Harry Potter And The Beauxbatons Acceptance
by Brockster550
Summary: Harry Potter was never treated like family by the Dursleys. He never believed that he would ever be free from their wrath, until a visit to Paris turned that around. Will Harry finally get a loving and caring family he deserves? Read on to find out. 'Sequel to be announced.'
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: The wonderful world of Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. The fanfic is all I own. No copyright intended!_

 **Author's note 1: A Harry/Gabrielle pairing story. This will also be part one of my 'Harry Goes To Beauxbatons' series. Gabrielle will be in the same year as Harry, while Fleur will still be three years older, as in canon. The Dursleys decide to take a vacation to France, where they have little choice but to bring Harry along. Greater Good Dumbledore; bad Ginny, Ron, Molly and Snape. There are likely going to be some OC's as well. Rated M for implied child abuse and neglect, just in case.**

Harry Potter And The Beauxbatons Acceptance

fanfic by Brockster550

 **Ch** **apter** **1** : **Vacation To Paris, France**

The Dursley family of #4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging of Surrey, England were, in their minds, a perfect family. They despised anything what they viewed as 'out of the ordinary,' because they took great pride in being a normal family. Vernon was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which was a drill making company, while Petunia was a housewife who looked after her's and Vernon's son, Dudley. To Vernon and Petunia, Dudley was the best boy in the whole, wide world and 'wouldn't hurt a fly.' The neighbors believed that the Dursley household only had three people. They were unaware that it also housed a fourth person.

The other person who lived at #4 Privet Drive was a small, stick-skinny, raven-haired boy with emerald-green eyes. This boy was called Harry Potter, and he wasn't talked about all that much because in the Dursleys opinion, he was a burden to the family. The Dursleys rarely referred to Harry by his actual name, and instead called him insulting names like freak, or anything in that type of the branch. The boy called Harry was asleep at the moment in a cupboard under the stairs, but not for too much longer because at that moment, he heard rude rapping on the door, waking him up with a jolt.

"UP! GET UP, NOW!" yelled the familiar voice of Aunt Petunia. "You're to start breakfast right now, freak! You'd better not let it burn, or you'll pay!"

"Yes, Aunt Petunia." said Harry flatly.

"Don't speak to me in that tone, boy!" snapped Aunt Petunia.

So Harry reached for a pair of pants that were too big for him and an overly large t-shirt. These were rags that Harry received as hand-me-downs because according to Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, the 'freak' was too expensive to deal with. Harry never really knew his real name until he started his first year at St. Grogery's Primary School. Harry had to use a belt to keep his much-too-big pair of trousers from falling down. Harry tried to tuck his overly large shirt in, but the top could slip down at any time. Harry tried desperately to make sure it didn't, because his back and torso were covered with all sorts of scars and bruises, with some of them being fairly recent. Many of them were 'awarded' to him by Uncle Vernon, and some of them by Dudley and his gang.

When Harry walked into the kitchen, he saw like dozens of presents covering the table. This surprised Harry because it was June 13th, and Dudley's eleventh birthday wasn't for another ten days. What could have come up to celebrate Dudley's birthday ten days early? Harry turned the burner to the necessary temperature, so he wouldn't accidentally burn anything. One time when he was six, he accidentally burned the bacon and Dudley just threw a tantrum, as bacon was one of his favourite foods. Uncle Vernon had even seared 'the freak's' left hand as 'punishment' for ruining his precious Dudders' breakfast. Harry once said that Dudley should quit complaining about things that weren't too big a deal, which resulted in more beatings.

Harry managed to fix breakfast to the Dursleys' liking, but he never counted on getting any praise. Dudley arrived in the kitchen a couple minutes later and proceeded to eat his breakfast. The phone rang, with Petunia getting up to answer. She came back a few minutes later, with a combination of anger and worry on her face.

"Vernon," Petunia informed her husband. "Mrs. Figg won't be able to watch the boy while we're gone. She'll be going to Austria to visit her mother."

"What're we going to do with him?" asked Vernon.

"We're going to need to bring the boy with us." said Petunia reluctantly.

"Yes, he will have to come," said Vernon, rather reluctantly. "But only if we can't find another sitter who can look after him."

So Petunia called a few other friends, but she had no luck in finding a sitter for 'the freak,' even with Dudley mock crying in an attempt to make sure it was a success. Realizing that they had no other option, Aunt Petunia ordered Harry to get ready to go to a post office, so they could get him a passport. Dudley began mock-crying again, knowing what 'the freak' was bound to do. On the way to the post office, they stopped by Piers Polkiss' house to pick him (they invited him along). Piers and Dudley walked back to the car. Piers was a scrawny boy with a rat-like face. Aside from being Dudley's best friend, he was also Dudley's second-in-command in the gang. Piers was also usually the one who would usually hold victims arms behind their backs, while Dudley dealt with punching.

Anytime the Dursleys had an outing, they always left Harry behind with Mrs. Figg. For Dudley's birthday, Vernon and Petunia would always take their son and a friend (usually Piers) out for the day, from museums to amusement parks. This time was one of the few extremely rare occasions where Harry would tag along with the Dursleys, but they always allowed it reluctantly.

After they finished getting Harry his passport and got back into their vehicle to go to the London International Airport, Vernon turned to Harry, with a glare.

"I'm warning you now, boy," said Vernon seriously. "Any 'funny business,' any at all, and you'll be in that cupboard until Christmas when we get back. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes sir." said Harry, while Dudley and Piers sniggered.

Inwardly, Harry groaned because he knew that they would always find some sort of loophole, just to look for any excuses to 'punish' him. Secretly, Dudley and Piers decided to try anything to get 'the freak' in trouble. Harry couldn't believe his luck (which was rotten like 99.9% of the time), and he was determined to make sure the vacation wouldn't be ruined in any way.

Meanwhile, a certain wizard with silver-gray hair and a silver-gray beard was getting ready to leave for a International Confederations of Wizards Conference, which was bound to last for four weeks at least. The first week would have him be in Ireland, the next in Japan, the one after in Australia, and the last one in France. A couple hours earlier, he had checked some sort of silver instruments on his desk in an office at a wizarding school called Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft Wizardry. One instrument emitted red smoke, indicating that the wards around the Dursleys household were strong. The other silver instrument emitted blue smoke, indicating Harry Potter was close by either Privet Drive, St. Grogery's Primary School and/or that Harry was close by Vernon and Petunia at least. The wizard's name was Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

'Harry will be prepared for The Greater Good,' thought Albus, proud of himself. 'All this will also help for his eventual marriage to Miss Ginevra Weasley!'

Meanwhile, the Dursleys, Piers and Harry made it to the Heathrow Airport for the flight to Paris for their vacation. Before getting out of their vehicle, Vernon instructed Dudley and Piers not to bother 'the boy,' as they didn't want to attract unwanted attention, so Dudley and Piers reluctantly obeyed. Then they all went through security, were searched to make sure they didn't have any contraband and given clearance to continue. It was noon when their plane started leaving and soon, they were already beginning the fly to Paris.

(Meanwhile, in a house with seven floors going up vertically, near a village called Ottery St. Catchpole)

A short, dumpy woman with curly, red hair was sitting in the living room with two of her children (who appeared to be the youngest children), going over their plan that Albus Dumbledore had proposed to them a few hours earlier. The woman's name was Molly Weasley, and her youngest children, a boy named Ronald (or Ron) and a girl (the aforementioned Ginevra, or Ginny for short).

"So we'll befriend Harry once he and I start Hogwarts?" asked Ron.

"Yes dear," said Molly. "And Albus will be paying us, too. Albus also set up a marriage contract for Ginny to marry Harry on his eighteenth birthday."

"Yes, yes, yeeeeeeesssssssssss!" squealed Ginny ecstatically and she started bouncing off the walls. "An eventual dream come true!"

"And I'll get to act like his best mate!" said Ron with glee.

"But, we have to act like we're poor," Molly instructed her youngest children. "He won't suspect a thing that way."

"We will do well to obey that, mum." said Ron and Ginny in unison.

(Back in the plane to Paris)

Harry sat on the window seat, with Petunia sitting next to him, to make sure no 'funny business' happened. Vernon, Dudley and Piers were sitting in aisle seats. Harry was looking out the window, thinking that it would be his only option in minding his own business. The plane finally landed at the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport after a seventy-five minute flight, at 2:15 PM Paris time.

Harry got up and stretched, like the other passengers in the plane. Remembering Uncle Vernon's warning about 'funny business,' Harry started mentally telling himself to behave himself, he didn't want a beating in any form. Vernon went to a car rental center while Petunia, Harry, Dudley and Piers waited. Once Vernon got a rented car, he and the others got in. Vernon and Petunia decided on walking around for a bit, since sitting on a plane seat for long periods can be hard on the legs.

Harry wished he had eyes all around his head, so he could see in all directions. He did spot a tower made out of wrought iron in the distance. Harry remembered seeing that tower in a book at his school library one day while he was avoiding Dudley and his gang playing their favourite game called Harry-Hunting. The book mentioned that the Eiffel Tower was the most famous landmark in Paris.

'At least I found a famous landmark,' thought Harry. 'Maybe this trip won't be so bad after all, as long as I avoid trouble that is.'

The Dursleys (as well as Piers) decided to take a bus tour, to pass the time before dinner. Harry had to sit by Uncle Vernon (who felt _he_ had a better chance to keep the 'freak' in line), while Dudley and Piers sat next to Aunt Petunia. After an unspecified amount of time, the bus drove right by some kind of forest just a little in the south southeastern part of Paris.

"On your right," the tour guide announced over the bus intercom, pointing a finger to indicate. "Is the Foret de Senart!"

Harry didn't really pay much attention, not wanting any trouble. It was a little while later when they all decided on getting food. After the tour ended, they all went to find a restaurant for dinner. Vernon and Petunia got Dudley and Piers each a couple hamburgers and a large plate of fries, while Harry was given only a handful of fries and a hot dog, with a little water, while Dudley and Piers also got large Dr. Peppers. Harry didn't complain, as he was getting something good to eat instead of dry bread or anything like that.

Later that evening, they all found a hotel to stay in for the duration of their vacation. They got conjoined rooms, where Dudley and Piers shared one, while Harry shared the other with Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, so they could keep the 'freak' in line, and also to not worry about any 'funny business.' Harry also didn't complain about sleeping closer to his aunt and uncle, guessing that sharing a room with either Dudley or Piers would've been the worst option. While Vernon, Petunia, Dudley and Piers fell asleep almost immediately, Harry layed awake before sleep had overtaken him as well. He was grateful that he had a more comfortable bed to sleep in, instead of that wretched worn-out mattress in the cupboard under the stairs. He didn't think he'd find any friends anywhere in Paris, after all he, the Dursleys and Piers were tourists. But little did Harry know that his luck was bound to take a shocking, but wonderful turn for the best.

 _To be continued!_

 **Author's note 2 (updated 1/5/19): I may end up bringing Hermione into the story (or this series) after all.** **I'm going to wait a little while first, to see if there is a right moment for it.**


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: As previously mentioned, J.K. Rowling owns the wonderful world of Harry Potter. I just own this fanfic. No copyright intended!_

 **Author's note: You'll have to excuse me for the lack of accents. I've never been good with those, and likely never will be. Plus, I'm more concerned with making the speaking parts easier to read!**

 **Ch** **apter** **2** : **Gabrielle** **And Fleur**

Harry woke up at around 5:30 AM as usual, as that was when his aunt forced him to get up and cook breakfast. Soon, the Dursleys, and Piers got up and started getting ready. Then they left their hotel room, made their way to the rented car and started driving to find a restaurant for breakfast. They found a cafe after fifteen minutes of looking and they went in. Dudley and Piers, as usual had big meals, same with Vernon; Petunia's meal was only a reasonable size while Harry didn't get much. They enjoyed depriving him of food, so Harry never counted on getting any decent-sized meals.

Once they finished and paid for the meal, they got back into their rented car and drove around, looking for an attraction that Dudley and Piers would like. They ultimately settled with a zoo called the 'Parc Zoologique de Paris,' seeing that Dudley and Piers enjoyed watching the animals in their enclosures since this gave them (and the rest of Dudley's gang) more 'motivations' for Harry Hunting, which Vernon and Petunia chose to be oblivious to, because the 'freak' is a burden and must be 'dealt with.' Knowing Dudley and Piers' intentions, Harry kept a reasonable distance from them, so they wouldn't be tempted to fall back onto their favourite hobby of beating him up. When they approached a frozen treats stall, Vernon and Petunia bought Dudley and Piers large french-vanilla creme glacee cones, and they were about to hurry away when the lady in charge asked Harry what he would like. So the Dursleys bought Harry a grape-flavoured popsicle, which Harry enjoyed.

At lunchtime, they ate at the zoo restaurant, where Dudley and Piers got sandwich au poulets (french term for chicken sandwiches) and frites (french term for french fries). Dudley threw a temper tantrum because he felt that his sandwich wasn't 'tasty' enough, so Vernon bought another one for Dudley while Piers sniggered at the worker who had to make another sandwich for Dudley, and the worker wasn't happy. Vernon and Petunia allowed Harry to finish the first sandwich. After lunch, they continued walking around the zoo. Harry noticed that one of his shoes was untied, so he stopped to tie it back up. When he finished, he noticed that neither the Dursleys nor Piers were anywhere in sight.

'Good riddance,' thought Harry. 'They don't care, so why should I?!'

He walked into the voliere (french term for aviary), which had all sorts of birds, like toucans, parakeets, etc...etc. Harry did see some ostriches in an enclosure earlier, as they're the biggest birds in the world. He was looking at the birds in the voliere in awe (spinning around as he was doing so), to the point where he didn't notice a cheerful girl with platinum blonde hair, watching him. When Harry finally noticed, she was facing him (giving him a bright smile at the same time).

"Hello!" said the girl, in a cute voice.

"Ah!" said Harry in surprise.

He tried backing away as fast as possible, causing him to trip and fall backwards, unfortunately into a small puddle of water, but he opted to just lay there. The girl walked over to him, kneeled down next to him and looked into Harry's emerald-green eyes. Harry saw that the girl also had bright-blue eyes, with her platinum-blonde hair tied up into a low ponytail. She also gave him another bright smile, hoping it would make Harry smile (which ended up working because he found it to be irresistible and smiled back).

"Hello, Harry!" said the girl, again in a cute voice.

"Uh, hiiiiiii!" said Harry nervously.

The girl giggled, which the sound of gave Harry tingles in his stomach. How did she know his name? Clearly he couldn't be famous or anything... or could he be? It started bringing up questions in his head, but he couldn't find any answers to any question. He was, after all forbidden to any questions.

"Why don't we go find a bench to sit on," said the girl. "I'd like to be your friend!"

Harry smiled at that comment, so he got up out of the puddle. Then he and the girl walked over to a bench and sat down.

"My name is Gabrielle," said the girl, holding her hand out at Harry. "Gabrielle Delacour, but my family and friends call me Gabby."

"I'm Harry, Harry Potter," said Harry as he shook hands with Gabby. "How is it you know my name?"

"Well, you're famous in the wizarding world," Gabby started explaining. "Especially in magical Great Britain. You somehow made He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named disappear when you were fifteen months old and that's how you got that lightning bolt scar on your forehead."

Harry realized that his scar had been exposed, so he sheepishly tried to cover it back up with his bangs.

"I never knew that!" said Harry, surprised.

"You've been mentioned in many books," said Gabby. "Alot of books in the wizarding world also mentioned that your parents sacrificed themselves to save you."

"That's weird," said Harry, confused. "I was told that my parents were drunks and that they died in a car crash."

Gabby frowned when Harry said that. She couldn't believe that Harry knew pretty much nothing about the wizarding world and almost nothing about his parents. Deep inside, she was blood-boiling with anger. Who would lie to Harry about his parents and magic, and how could they do so? The more she thought about it, Gabby was becoming more and more suspicious. She grabbed a hold of Harry's hand in a comforting manner. This naturally made Harry flinch, making Gabby even more suspicious (even though Harry eased up a bit).

'Harry flinched!' thought Gabby with worry. 'What does this mean?'

Seeing Gabby with a skeptical look, Harry decided that maybe he could try letting her know what's really been going on. After all, the Dursleys weren't anywhere close by, and plus this was Paris they were in, not Little Whinging in Surrey.

"My aunt and uncle were the ones that claimed my parents died in a car crash," said Harry. "They even said that there's no such thing as magic."

"Magic exists, Harry," assured Gabby. "There have been times where I create bouts of accidental magic. In fact, even my sister did that once before."

"Well, that explains how I've been able to grow my hair back so quickly," said Harry with realization. "And make one of my cousin's old sweaters shrink to hand-puppet size."

"Well, that one will be interesting!" said Gabby with a giggle.

Harry continued to tell her about what his life was like, _really_ like. How he was treated like a slave, used as a human punching bag by his cousin and his cousin's friends, how he was given very little food, how he was never given any praise for his hard work, how he was forced to dumb himself down, and how he was given his cousin's overly-large hand-me-downs (which was especially clear to Gabby). Harry even proceeded to tell Gabby about how his 'punishments' were being abused, how he was also beat with a belt relentlessly for any 'funny business,' getting better grades than Dudley (as well as getting much worse grades), 'bullying' Dudley, for burning breakfast (whether accidental or intentional), asking questions, and even for any tiny flaw such as breathing, smiling, laughing, or even existing. Gabby had her hands over her mouth the entire time, with tears welling up and flowing down her cheeks.

"Oh Harry!" Gabby tearfully replied as she gave him a hug. "No child deserves to go through that! How could those muggles do that? We need to get you away from those people as soon as possible."

"But how?" wondered Harry. "I'm a freak, a burden. Surely nobody wants to take me!"

"Don't listen to what those muggles say, Harry," said Gabby. "My papa works for the French Ministry of Magic, he'll be able to help."

"I sure hope he can," said Harry. "Some teachers at my school have tried to help me, only to somehow call it off, and then I would get more beatings for 'tattling' on Dudley and his gang."

"How did getting some help get called off?" asked Gabby, getting angrier.

"Well, if my intuition is correct," said Harry. "My uncle would bribe the headmistress into keeping quiet about my abuse and making sure Dudley and his gang escaped punishment. I was able to figure it out because of Dudley and his gang... sticking their tongues out at me. It never mattered if they started anything, I always got blamed."

"Cowards they are," Gabby ranted. "I don't understand how they're able to keep up with that. Your uncle is bound to try bribing the wrong people, and that will definitely get your relatives busted. They think they're above the law. But nobody is, no matter who they are."

"Yeah, but luck has almost never been on my side," said Harry sadly. "That's also why I don't think your father will be able to help me."

"He will, Harry," assured Gabby softly. "Maybe we can look around the zoo while we look for my parents!"

"Well, okay." said Harry. "Anything to help distract us."

Gabby wanted to make sure Harry got a better life, and she figured offering to accompany him around the zoo was one step.

"Did you wander off on your own?" asked Harry.

"Sort of," said Gabby. "I was looking for my parents and sister because I would watch some of the animals for longer periods, but when I saw you, I just thought, why not make friends. You do need friends after all, genuine ones that is."

"Th-Thank you, Gabby," said Harry, overjoyed. "Until now, I also never had any friends. My cousin and his gang made sure of that, claiming I didn't deserve any."

Gabby scowled inwardly, with her anger and hatred toward Harry's so-called relatives increasing more and more by the second. The two friends explored the zoo, to get to know each other better and to distract them from the thoughts with the Dursleys (especially Harry). They walked into the vivarium (french term for aquarium), and they were watching a variety of fish in one tank, swimming in groups. Gabby was happy to see Harry enjoying himself.

"Is this your first time visiting a zoo?" she asked.

"Well, yeah," Harry sheepishly admitted. "This vacation with my relatives is an early birthday present for my cousin, who turns eleven on the 23rd. Unlike Dudley's birthdays, mine are just plain terrible, where I'm given extra chores and even more beatings. Anytime the Dursleys have a general outing, especially when it has something to do with my cousin, I'm almost always excluded and left with a babysitter."

"Those no-good, dirty-rotten muggles," Gabby ranted. "How could they also just rub it in your face like that?"

"They just claim that I don't deserve any happiness," said Harry. "It seems like a happy me is a nightmare for them."

"Everybody deserves happiness, Harry," said Gabby, holding his hand for comfort. "Just remember that."

"Okay," said Harry. "But it's going to take some getting used to."

"That's alright, Harry. Just try to enjoy your time here." said Gabby. "By the way, I turn eleven on August 10th."

"My eleventh birthday is on July 31st." said Harry. "I wonder if all other kids in the wizarding world is familiar with that."

"Well, I'd day that's likely." said Gabby. "You did help make he-who-must-not-be-named disappear after all."

They walked around the vivarium for a bit, looking at all the fish. Gabby would explain what kind of fish there were and where they came from and Harry listened with fascination. They eventually made it to the Serre aux Reptiles (french term for reptile house), there were all sorts of lizards and snakes. They made it back outside and started watching a tiger walking around in it's enclosure when they were spotted.

"Gabby, there you are!" said a voice from behind them.

Harry and Gabby turned around and saw an older girl, who Harry guessed must be Gabby's sister. She had a worried look on her face.

"Gabby, you shouldn't be wandering around by yourself," said Gabby's sister. "Maman, Papa and I have been walking all around the zoo, looking for you."

"Sorry, Fleur," Gabby apologized, also putting an arm around Harry's shoulders. "I was just making a new friend!"

"I'm Gabby's sister, Fleur!" she said, holding a hand out at Harry.

"I'm Harry, Harry Potter!" said Harry, shaking Fleur's hand.

"No way," said Fleur, surprised. "The saviour of the wizarding world!"

"Yeah," said Harry sheepishly. "Gabby explained that to me a while ago."

"But, I'd rather be friends with you for who you are," assured Fleur. "Not for the legend, because the legend and the person you are happen to be two different people!"

"Th-thank you," said Harry. "This means alot to me!"

So Fleur joined Harry and Gabby in looking at the different animals while they went to find Fleur and Gabby's parents. But unfortunately for Harry, his rotten luck was getting close to returning. It was while they walked by the wolf enclosure when Dudley and Piers managed to spot 'the freak' and they grinned evilly as they wobbled over to confront 'the freak.'

"Well, the freak has been found." said Dudley as he and Piers approached Harry, Gabby and Fleur.

"Whaddaya want?" asked Fleur.

"The freak," said Dudley as he and Piers began cracking their knuckles threateningly. "Now hand him over and you won't get hurt."

"Why should we hand Harry over?" asked Gabby defiantly. "If anybody is a freak, it is you two."

"We aren't freaks," whined Dudley. "How dare you..."

"You two look like gorillas," said Fleur. "Fat gorillas from the looks of it."

"Hey, we're healthy kids," said Piers, who was in denial. "Some healthy kids look the way Dudley and me do."

"And I'm the healthiest one of all," Dudley claimed, also in denial. "Don't listen to the freak, he's just saying a bunch of lies."

"Which is why we're listening to Harry," said Fleur and Gabby defiantly. "He's no freak."

"Hand him over or you will get pounded." Dudley threatened Fleur and Gabby.

Fleur and Gabby just couldn't bring themselves to give Harry up. When Dudley and Piers began stomping closer to them threateningly, Harry decided to display some bravery and gave in.

"Okay, I'll come with you, just leave my friends alone." said Harry.

"Excellent choice, freak," said Dudley with a sneer. "Now come along."

Harry walked toward his cousin. Then Dudley and Piers forcefully grabbed Harry by his arms and dragged him away. Gabby tried to run after them, only to be restrained by her sister.

"Gabby, don't do it," said Fleur, who was also getting upset to see Harry getting dragged away. "There's... There's nothing we can do."

"But those people, they'll just... just..." Gabby stammered as she tried freeing herself from Fleur's grasp, with tears flowing down her cheeks. "They... They'll j-just..."

"I know," said Fleur. "We need to get back to maman and papa. We'll tell them what happened."

"O-O-Okaaayyyyyy," Gabby sobbed. "Harry ne-ee-eeds to get awaaaayyyyy from those h-h-horribleeee p-p-p-people."

"We'll do anything we can, Gabby," Fleur assured her sister, hugging her for comfort. "Papa will try to come up with something. The sooner we tell him, the better."

"Okaayyyyyy!" Gabby replied in a tearful whisper.

So she and Fleur went to go find their parents. Gabby was still in tears and they were making it harder for her to see clearly, scared for Harry and what he was bound to face, seeing the looks on Dudley's and Piers' faces. Gabby and Fleur found their parents waiting for them over by the lemur enclosure and they told them everything about Harry. Fleur and Gabby's father assured that they would try to get Harry away from his so-called relatives when and if they were ever found. Meanwhile, Harry and his relatives made it back to their hotel room, where Harry received his 'punishment.'

"When we get back home," Vernon threatened his nephew. "You'll be getting even more punishments. Have I made myself clear?"

Harry nodded his head frantically, then Vernon and Petunia went into where Dudley and Piers were sleeping to comfort Dudley, who was mock crying. He even lied and exaggerated the situation, yet again, enraging Vernon more and more. As soon as Vernon and Petunia turned and glared at 'the freak,' Dudley and Piers shot a triumphant look at Harry, then they sneered silently.

"We give you food and a place to live," Petunia told her nephew in a hoarse voice. "And you repay us badly by making friends? What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I have every right to make friends." said Harry defiantly.

"Freaks don't deserve friends, you know that." snapped Aunt Petunia.

"You're describing yourselves," said Harry angrily. "The way you treat me is making you all freaks."

This only resulted in Harry getting smacked in the face by his aunt, and his uncle kicked him in the stomach, declaring that as punishment for 'insubordination.' Dudley and Piers were snickering as they enjoyed watching 'the freak' getting beat up, seeing that as one of their favourite forms of entertainment. Harry silently wished for a loving and caring family, yet again. Why couldn't he have one, it wasn't too much to ask. Dudley never asked for anything, he just demanded it, and Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia would just get anything for their 'precious Duddykins,' while Harry was flat-out ignored. They rubbed it in his face how much he was missing out. Harry had no idea that his wish would eventually come true, but that he would have to wait for it a little longer.

 _To be continued!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: As usual, I don't own the Harry Potter franchise, that honor belongs to J.K. Rowling. I just own this fanfic. No copyright intended!_

 **Ch** **apter** **3** : **New Guardians For Harry**

Three days have passed since Harry met Gabby and Fleur. It had been the longest three days since he was denied happiness by his so-called relatives. After a slow start, Harry and his relatives got up and left the hotel to get some breakfast. Then they headed to the Luxembourg Palace because Aunt Petunia wanted to see all the different kinds of plants the palace gardens had. Dudley whined that he didn't want to go there, until Petunia promised her 'precious Duddykins' a nice treat later. Dudley eased up once he was satisfied with that revelation. Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes, not wanting any more reprisals. Harry was fascinated with the different flowers and plants in the gardens, but he didn't dare show it in front of his relatives. Dudley and Piers went around to make sure no other child approached 'the freak,' even though Harry didn't count on running into Gabby nor Fleur again, since they could be anywhere. As soon as Vernon and Petunia turned their backs, Harry snuck off to find a way of enjoying himself openly. As he continued looking at all the different plants and flowers, Harry felt somebody giving him a hug from behind. Naturally, he flinched, but then he saw that it was Gabby, so he eased up and hugged her back.

"Hi Harry," said Gabby, giving him a bright smile. "Fleur and I were worried when your cousin and his friend dragged you away."

"Yeah, but I didn't want to see either of you get hurt," said Harry. "Dudley and his gang will beat up any kid unfortunate enough to cross their path."

"Fleur and I respect you even more for that," said Gabby. "Are you trying to steer clear of them?"

"Yes," said Harry. "But also from my aunt and uncle, since they choose to be oblivious. Dudley is the picture of innocence in their minds."

"They think that having all that money helps them stay above the law," guessed Gabby with contempt in her voice. "They also deliberately ignore the fact that nobody is, no matter who they are."

"And they always come up with pathetic excuses to defend their actions, and not have even an ounce of a conscience," stated Harry. "I'm always forbidden to ask any questions, no matter how good they are, so I have no known way to prove their abusive treatment towards me. Dudley can ask even the lamest ones and he'd still get an answer."

"As long as you stay away from them, you'll be okay," assured Gabby. "They're the ones who should be ashamed of themselves, not you."

"Thank you, Gabby," said Harry gratefully, then curiosity got to him. "Are you here with your family?"

"Yes," said Gabby. "Fleur and I are always reminded not to wander too far. Since you're here, maybe we can walk around the gardens for a bit."

"Okay, I'd like to." said Harry.

So he and Gabby walked around the gardens. Harry made sure to be aware of his surroundings, so as not to inadvertently run into Dudley and Piers, who would more than likely beat up 'the freak,' and/or drag him back to Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. Harry told Gabby about how he was fascinated with all the plants and flowers. Then he proceeded to tell her about how being forced to tend his Aunt Petunia's garden was one of his many unreasonable chores, while Dudley didn't have to work for anything, making Gabby scowl inwardly at how Harry was treated like a slave. She grabbed a hold of Harry's hand to provide him comfort, making him smile. It was approximately ten to fifteen minutes later when Fleur spotted Harry and Gabby.

"There you are, Gabby," said Fleur as she approached Harry and Gabby. "Are you and Harry enjoying all the flowers and plants?"

"Yeah," Gabby told her sister. "Harry was telling me about his fascination of them, and his reasons for being so familiar with gardening."

"I see," said Fleur, then she turned to Gabby. "Maman and papa want us to report back to them."

"Okay," said Gabby, then she turned to Harry and waved. "Bye, Harry!"

"Bye Gabby, bye Fleur." said Harry, also waving.

"Harry," said Fleur. "Don't be silly. Maman and papa want to meet you."

"What, really?!" asked Harry, feeling hopeful.

"Yes," said Fleur. "Gabby and I have been telling them about you."

Harry was rendered speechless, he also felt his legs go rigid. Was this implying that he can leave the Dursleys for good? It sounded too good to be true. Gabby grabbed a hold of Harry's hand again and he felt himself relax a bit.

"Let's go, Harry," said Gabby. "The sooner we do this, the better."

"Ooooooookaaayyyyyyy!!!" whispered Harry with excitement.

So Harry and Gabby followed Fleur over to the large water fountain in front of the palace, where her's and Gabby's parents were, waiting for them. Mr and Mrs. Delacour saw their daughters finally walking up to them, with the boy who they guessed was Harry Potter.

"Hello, Monsieur Potter," said Fleur and Gabby's father, as he held a hand out at Harry. "I'm Antonio Delacour."

"N-Nice to m-meet youuu!" said Harry nervously, as he shook hands with Antonio.

"And I'm Apolline Delacour, Monsieur Potter." said Fleur and Gabby's mother as she held a hand out at Harry.

"Nice t-toooo m-meet youuu!" said Harry nervously, as he shook hands with Apolline.

Harry saw that Antonio was a very tall man with brown hair turning gray. Apolline was identical to Gabby and Fleur, as she had the same platinum blonde hair (which was tied up into a high ponytail) and the same extreme beauty her daughters had.

"Are you here with your relatives, Harry?" asked Antonio.

"Y-Y-Yeah," said Harry nervously. "At least, I hope so."

Antonio frowned at that revelation, finding it hard to believe that Harry's relatives weren't concerned at all with leaving Harry behind. After asking Harry for the descriptions of his relatives, Antonio went to find them. Harry had no idea that he had some papers for the Dursleys to sign to turn custody of Harry over to him. In fact, not even Fleur, nor Gabby were aware of it. The only person Antonio told was Apolline, though they had to make sure their daughters wouldn't hear them talking about possibly getting custody of Harry. Luckily, the Dursleys hadn't left yet, so Antonio approached them.

"What do you want?" asked Vernon rudely.

"To inform you that your treatment towards Harry Potter is inexcusable." Antonio retorted, making Vernon and Petunia turn pale.

"The freak is too troublesome," Petunia claimed. "Not to mention that he's too expensive to deal with."

"I somehow doubt that," said Antonio, who eyed Dudley and Piers suspiciously. Then he brought out a document and handed it to Vernon. "Now, child abuse is bad and I don't get why you're all fine with it. I happen to work for the french Ministry of Magic. Now, you can sign this form that will turn custody of Harry over to me and I'll get out of your hair, or you can refuse and face charges of child abuse."

Vernon quickly took out a pen and signed the form without even a second thought. He was finally happy that neither he, Petunia, nor Dudley and his gang have to worry about seeing 'the freak' anymore. In fact, even Petunia signed it without second thoughts and she was ecstatic to be rid of 'the freak,' too.

"There, he's yours now," said Vernon. "But he'll be trouble, I must warn you."

As the Dursleys walked away gleefully, Antonio shook his head in disbelief (he couldn't understand how they'd turn Harry over to someone without hesitation). They didn't seem to care if it was somebody who could be out to kill Harry. Still, the deed was done, Harry was now in his and Apolline's custody. Antonio put the form back inside his pocket, he wanted to surprise his daughters (as well as Harry) what had happened, but this needed to be done at home. He made it back to the fountain in front of the palace, where Apolline, Fleur, Gabby and Harry were patiently waiting.

"Well, it's time we head home." said Antonio.

"What happened?" asked Harry.

"I'll tell you all when we're back at the manor." assured Antonio, smiling at Harry.

"Oh, okay." said Harry.

So they went to a secluded area, with Apolline telling Harry a bit about side apparition, then they vanished and reappeared right outside of a manor that was eye-catching for Harry. It was built out of some type of marble. Once they made it inside and into the living room, Antonio pulled the custody document out, with a smile.

"Well, we have custody of Harry now," he informed. "His relatives signed the form without any second thoughts."

Harry's mouth dropped open in surprise, his wish was finally granted. Fleur and Gabby especially were happy for Harry. They both gave him a hug at once, making it look like Harry was put into a sandwich. This made Harry wince because of the pain coming from the wounds on his back.

"You alright, Harry?" asked Apolline.

"Uh huh." Harry replied, naturally.

"You're no longer in custody of those muggles, Harry," assured Gabby, grabbing a hold of one of his hands to provide him comfort. "You can tell us, we won't judge you."

"We-elllllllll, okay," said Harry in a tense voice. "My back hurts."

"Would you lift up your shirt, if one could call it that. Would you do that, Harry?" asked Apolline.

Harry tried to do so, but the pain returned anytime he tried lifting his shirt up (the pain would only return and/or worsen anytime he moved his arms up past a certain point). This made him wince again, resulting in Apolline and Antonio frowning.

"Would you like one of us to do it for you, Harry?" asked Antonio.

Harry nodded his head, with Apolline lifting Harry's shirt up. The sight of Harry's back was sickening, with purple-bluish bruises, some of the welts and scars were recent, and some of the older ones reopened. Gabby gasped while covering her mouth in sheer horror, then she felt tears welling up. Fleur was also horrified to see all the injuries on Harry's back, the sight made Fleur and Gabby feel like vomiting. Antonio went to get a potion bottle while Apolline went to comfort Gabby, who was crying hysterically. Harry went to lay down on the couch, on his stomach.

"I-I-I d-d-didn't e-e-expect H-Harry's injuries to b-be at that degree, m-m-maman," Gabby wept. "How c-c-could those people do this, a-and be h-hap-py with i-it?"

"Don't worry, Gabby," said Apolline soothingly, hugging her youngest daughter comfortingly. "Harry's free from those people now. He'll be alright."

Fleur had to look away from the sickening sight of Harry's bruises and reopened scars. This made her wonder how Harry was able to survive something like that. Antonio came back with a bottle of clear liquid. Harry tensed up, thinking it would make his wounds sting.

"Don't worry, Harry," assured Antonio. "This bottle is full of phoenix tears. It has healing powers, so it won't sting."

As some of the phoenix tears hit the wounds, Harry felt the soothing feeling it provided. The older welts and scars began healing, with the more recent ones (as well as the reopened ones) requiring a cleaning first, so Harry could avoid a possible infection. Once the cleaning of the fresh and reopened wounds finished, phoenix tears were added to those.

"These injuries will require a little more time for healing," Antonio told Harry. "You'll need to lay either on your stomach or on your sides for a few nights. That way the phoenix tears can get set with much more ease."

"Okay," said Harry. "But this will seem like an eternity."

"Don't worry, Harry," said Gabby, who had calmed down and walked back into the living room. "I'll keep you company while your wounds are healing."

"Alright," said Antonio. "But Gabby, don't touch the wounds on Harry's back, otherwise you'll mess up the phoenix tears healing process."

"Yes, papa," said Gabby. "I'll be careful."

So Antonio left to give Harry and Gabby some time alone (he was smiling as he watched his youngest daughter bond with Harry, and it appeared to be getting stronger and stronger by the second it seemed like). Harry felt tears welling up in his eyes, this experience was overwhelming.

"What's wrong, Harry?" asked Gabby with concern in her voice.

"It's… it's just…" Harry began explaining, as tears flowed down his face. "It's just, this is all new to me, the number of times I tried to get help only made things worse for me. Every Christmas and every year on my birthday for as long as I can remember, I kept wishing for a loving and caring family. Until the day I met you, I-I didn't think th-that my wish would ever come true."

Gabby felt tears well up in her eyes again. It was so sad to hear Harry reveal how long he had been asking for the wish he had just received. She grabbed a hold of his hand and squeezed it comfortingly. Gabby wanted so desperately to hug Harry, but she remembered her father advising her not to, so the phoenix tears could do it's job easily. Instead, she gave Harry a gentle kiss on his cheek, which made him blush. Somehow, Harry realized it wasn't just Gabby's hugs that were so warm and gentle, but her kisses did just that as well. Gabby also started telling Harry about how she and Fleur have had similar experiences that he himself went through. She even told Harry how she and Fleur were human but were also quarter-veela (meaning that they have veela traits). Then Gabby told Harry that having the veela traits have made it hard for her and Fleur to find mates and maintain friendships. Harry was stunned as Gabby continued explaining her story. She mentioned that her maternal grandmother was a full veela (which made Apolline half-veela).

"Wow, so you, me and Fleur, in some ways have had something in common, due to having been treated like outcasts," said Harry. "But being alone and friendless was especially true in my case, since the Dursleys always saw a happy me as their worst nightmare."

"You won't have to worry about seeing those so-called relatives of yours ever again," assured Gabby. "You're with a loving and caring family now, and we'll make sure you get the love and affection you deserve."

"I never have considered Privet Drive home," stated Harry. "And I never will, since I was always unwanted. You and your family have already made me feel at home."

Gabby held Harry's hand once more, trying to provide him comfort, with Harry returning the favour. What nobody realized was that Harry's words caused the silver instruments on Albus Dumbledore's desk at Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry to collapse and stop working. Albus wouldn't be aware of that until he got back, and he still had the business trip for the ICW to deal with.

 _To be continued!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: As mentioned before, J.K Rowling is the owner of the Harry Potter series, I just own this fanfic. No copyright intended!_

 **Chapter 4: The Potters' Will**

Harry spent the next couple weeks or so recovering from his injuries he'd received at the hands of his former so-called relatives. After he recovered, Gabby gave Harry a proper tour of Delacour Manor. They also had two creatures known as house elves, one was male and the other was female. Outside the manor, there was a swimming pool and even what looked like a fire pit. Gabby explained that she and her folks will sometimes invite guests over and use the fire pit to sit around it and talk about anything that interested them. Antonio also encouraged Harry to take nutrient potions with his meals to treat his malnutrition (which was recommended to be done for the next three weeks at the least). Antonio also advised Harry not to go swimming for a few weeks at least, not wanting him to risk the scars reopening (especially the most recent ones). Harry hadn't gone swimming before, so avoiding the swimming pool was easy for him.

"Well, it's time we go to Gringotts." said Antonio, one day between early to mid July.

"What's Gringotts?" asked Harry.

"It's the only bank in the wizarding world, Harry," Antonio explained. "It's run by goblins."

"Really, goblins?" asked Harry, surprised.

"Yes," said Antonio. "They're clever, but not the most friendly of beasts. I think that is because they don't get treated well by the majority of the wizarding population. Goblins _do_ hate thieves, and that makes them ideal guards."

Harry was quick to obey that warning. He also decided to treat the Gringotts goblins with politeness and respect.

"Is there a reason we're going to Gringotts?" asked Harry.

"Well, your parents left a will," said Apolline. "Antonio and I became friends with your parents shortly after they graduated from Hogwarts. Lily and James would come to visit us as much as possible any time they came to Paris and that's how we met them. We were at the Louvre Museum when we met your parents, Harry."

"And House Potter is one of the most ancient and most nobles houses," Antonio revealed. "House Delacour is another one. All of the most ancient and most noble houses currently reside in England, except House Delacour. We moved away from England five years ago."

This was all new to Harry. If he was a member of a most ancient and most noble house, then why was he stuck with the Dursleys for much of his life? Something didn't seem right at all, it seemed like somebody might've been controlling his life like a puppet. Once Harry, Gabby, Fleur, Antonio and Apolline got ready, they all left the wards surrounding Delacour Manor and side apparated to an alley and walked out into some kind of junction and over to some kind of bronze statue. Harry realized that the citizens passing by didn't pay attention to them walking up to the statue (which somehow became animated as they continued approaching it).

"Welcome to the entrance to Place Cachee, Harry," said Apolline as she caught a glimpse of Harry's confused expression. "This statue is only visible to us wizarding folk."

"Anytime a wizard or witch approaches the statue," Antonio explained. "It becomes animated, then it moves a leg and dress away from it's pedestal to grant access."

Harry nodded his head in understanding as the statue just as Antonio described. Fleur, Gabby and Apolline went in before Harry. Then Antonio followed once Harry walked in through the entrance. After walking through some kind of passageway, they stepped out and into some fancy shopping district.

"This is it, Harry, Place Cachee." said Apolline.

As they continued strolling through the shopping district, Harry had to keep looking all around him to look at the different shops. Harry wished he could've had eyes all around his head for that reason. The Delacours were amused to see Harry's fascination of Place Cachee. They eventually spotted a huge building made out of some kind of marble.

"This is Gringotts Wizarding Bank, Harry," Antonio explained. "It's french pronunciation is _Banque de Gringotts_!"

Harry nodded his head in understanding as they continued on. After walking into the main lobby, Antonio stopped a goblin walking by.

"Excuse me," he said to the goblin, being as polite as possible. "Mr. Harry Potter wishes to see his parents will."

"Ah," said the goblin, then he turned his attention to Harry. "Alot of us goblins have been wondering why you haven't answered your notification letters, especially the goblins at the London chain."

"I don't recall getting any mail from Gringotts," said Harry to the goblin. "I only just found out about all this early this morning."

"I see," said the goblin. "If you all will follow me, I'll take you to the transportation room so you can go to the London chain of Gringotts. Ragnok will want to speak with you especially, Mr. Potter."

So the goblin showed Harry and the Delacours over to the transportation room. Once they made it inside the room, the goblin closed the door and turned his attention to Harry and company.

"Hold onto those rails over there," said the goblin, pointing to some rails at the back of the room. "They will help to keep you all from losing your balance." (Then he pressed a button on some magical device right by the door and spoke into it). "Gringotts London."

Then some magical light above the door shown red, followed by some rumbling. This would've made Harry and the Delacours wobble some, but they didn't have to worry about that since they were holding onto the rails. After a couple minutes, the magical light above the door turned green. Once they left the transportation room, Harry and the Delacours followed the goblin over to where Ragnok's office must be located. They were stopped by another goblin on the way.

"Ragnok is a little busy at the moment." said the London Gringotts goblin.

"Well Griphook," said the Paris Gringotts goblin. "Mr. Harry Potter stepped into the Gringotts in Paris a little while ago."

"Thank you, Sharpbait," said the goblin named Griphook. "We'd better get Mr. Potter and company over to Ragnok's office."

So Griphook led the rest of the way. They stopped outside a door with a frosted glass window that said: _Ragnok, director of Gringotts London_. Then Griphook knocked on the door.

"Come in!" called a voice from the other side.

Then Griphook opened the door and showed Sharpbait, Harry and the Delacours in.

"Mr. Harry Potter is here with company, Ragnok." said Griphook.

"Ah, Mr. Potter," greeted Ragnok. "We've been expecting you! On your tenth birthday, we sent you a notification letter explaining your inheritance along with your parents' will."

"I never received any mail!" said Harry, baffled.

"Hmm," said Ragnok, frowning in annoyance. "Something just seems… wrong."

"I'll go get the Potters will, Ragnok." said Griphook.

Then he left Ragnok's office to get his errand taken care of. Griphook returned a few minutes later with two or three pieces of parchment and handed them to Ragnok. Then Ragnok brought out a silver dagger as he handed Harry a folded-up parchment that was wax sealed.

"The wax requires seven drops of your blood for it to dissipate," said Ragnok, then he held the dagger to Harry. "You'll need to slice your palm with this in order to do so. The wound will automatically heal once the seven drops of blood hit the wax."

Harry did as he was instructed and soon the wax dissipated. Harry unfolded the parchment, which read:

 _The last will and testament of Lily J. Potter (nee Evans) and James Charlus Potter._

 _To our son Harry, if you're reading this will, then we're both dead. We're sorry we couldn't be there for you, but we love you very much. We leave you a list of guardians who can look after you should something happen to us, in the order that follows:_

 _1\. Sirius Orion Black (James' best friend and Harry's godfather),_

 _2\. Frank and Alice Longbottom (friends of the family, Alice being Harry's godmother),_

 _3\. Amelia Bones (friend of the family),_

 _4\. Minerva McGonagall (James' godmother),_

 _5\. Damon and Ariel Greengrass (friends of the family),_

 _6\. Antonio and Apolline Delacour (friends of the family)._

 _Under no, and absolutely NO circumstances is Harry ever to be placed in the custody of Petunia Dursley (nee Evans) and Vernon Dursley. They hate magic beyond any belief and they will abuse and neglect Harry as much as they will spoil and dote on their son, Dudley. So for the sake of Harry, steer clear of the Dursleys and make sure he doesn't get placed with them._

 _Harry, we also leave you the Potter family vault consisting of 500 million galleons, some family heirlooms and the Potter family ring that comes with some ancient heirloom magic. We also have two Potter Manors (one in the outskirts of London and the other in the outskirts of Paris), both of which will become available to you once you turn fifteen (the minimum age for emancipation). Since you're now the head of the most ancient and most noble house of Potter, you are exempt from the restriction of underage magic, effective upon completion of the reading of this will._

 _One side note Harry, don't trust Molly Weasley (nee Prewitt). Our first and only meeting with her went sour because she claimed that you and her daughter Ginevra were destined to marry. She also claimed that you and her son Ronald would be best mates. Naturally, our hunch told us that Molly is bound to raise Ronald and Ginevra that way, but Arthur, Bill, Charlie, and Percy are good people while we aren't sure about Fred and George._

 _Another side note, Sirius wasn't our secret keeper, we changed that to Peter Pettigrew. So Harry, if you and/or your possible guardians are reading this, be warned that Sirius would never betray us._

 _Signed,_

 _Lily J. Potter_

 _James Charlus Potter_

 _October 5, 1981_

 _Witnesses signed,_

 _Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

 _November 1, 1981_

Harry was teary-eyed as he finished reading the will. This made him hate his so-called relatives even more. But since he was no longer in their custody, Harry was able to relax some. Then he discovered another piece of parchment that was easy to open, making Harry more suspicious. He opened it and read it, which said:

 _With the permission of Harry's magical guardian, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore and Molly Weasley (nee Prewitt), a marriage contract has been drawn up for Harry James Potter and Ginevra Molly Weasley, effective as of Harry's eighteenth birthday._

 _Signed,_

 _Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

 _Molly Weasley_

 _November 10, 1981_

Harry's eyes were wide with horror, how could somebody draw up some marriage contract to have him marry somebody he hadn't even met before? Something told Harry that this contract wasn't a real one, so he handed it to Antonio. He and Apolline looked over it and they, too widened their eyes in disbelief. Gabby also looked over the 'marriage contract' and gasped in horror as she covered her mouth.

"Don't worry, Gabby," assured Apolline. "The contract…"

But Gabby stormed out of Ragnok's office, with Apolline following her. Antonio and Fleur knew that Gabby was on the verge of bursting into tears because of the way she dashed out. Clear enough, Gabby was shedding tears as she found a seat outside the office and sat down with her eyes on the ground. Apolline sat down next to her youngest daughter and provided her with some comfort.

"Maman, how could Harry be forced into a marriage?" Gabby sobbed into her mother's shoulders.

"It's okay, Gabby," assured Apolline while hugging her daughter. "That marriage contract is a void one."

"Really?" Gabby tearfully replied, with her hopes rising.

"Yes," Apolline reassured. "The date the contract was drawn up revealed it to be invalid. Harry's parents couldn't have agreed with it, especially with the will mentioning that Lily and James didn't get along with Molly."

"Oh okay," said Gabby as she wiped the tears away from her eyes. "I didn't see the date it was drawn up."

"Let's get the will reading finished." said Apolline.

"Okay, maman." said Gabby.

So Apolline and Gabby returned to Ragnok's office. The next parchment Harry read through was a list of his magical blocks, which read:

 **Name: Harry James Potter**

 **Date of birth: 7-31-80**

 **Parents: Lily J. Potter and James Charlus Potter**

 **Magical core 95% blocked. Natural abilities in occlumency, potions, transfiguration, healing abilities, charms, wandless magic, and defence magic.**

Harry was surprised to see all the natural abilities he had. He was then instructed to follow Griphook and Sharpbait over to the magical block removal room. The Delacours waited outside while Harry went in. Then he was instructed to lay down on a table and then given some kind of sleeping potion. Once he was asleep the magical block removing goblins got to work in removing the blocks.

 _To be continued!_

 **Author's note: I apologize for any inconvenience regarding the french counterpart of Diagon Alley. It was pointed out that one already existed.**


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: As usual, I don't own the Harry Potter world, J.K. Rowling does. I just own this fanfic, no copyright intended!_

 **Chapter 5: Madame Maxime**

After an hour or so, the magical block removing goblins finished. Ten to fifteen minutes later, Harry was slowly coming to. Upon putting his glasses on, he saw that everything was blurry and crystal clear when he took them off. The head of the magical block removal team, Greenstone had something to tell Harry.

"There was a soul fragment right where your scar was, Mr. Potter," Greenstone informed Harry. "That was one of the reasons your magical core was blocked. The other reason was Albus Dumbledore having placed some of the blocks himself. We had to remove that soul fragment first, to reduce the risk of it interfering with the block removing and causing further damage."

Greenstone held up some kind of vial that had something black moving around inside. Harry was surprised that that was indeed a soul fragment, but he was relieved that he was free of it. He felt even better than ever before now that all of his magical blocks were removed. Harry also saw that he had grown to a height of 5'8" (which seemed to be a little tall for a ten going-on eleven year old boy). Upon leaving the room, Harry was greeted by the Delacours and they were relieved that Harry was alright (Gabby especially). Greenstone handed the vial with the soul fragment to Antonio. Then Griphook handed a copy of the Potters will to Harry.

"Harry," said Antonio. "If it's okay with you, can I make another copy of the will. I may need it to be able to help get your godfather the trial he never received. I may also need it to talk with the other people on the guardian list, to make sure they're okay with us continuing to look after you."

"Yes," assured Harry as he handed the will to Antonio. "It's okay with me. I understand that it may be needed, just in case."

"Now we need to get you some proper clothes once we're finished here, Harry," said Apolline. "Those rags need to be pitched as soon as possible."

So Harry, Gabby, Fleur and Apolline headed down to Harry's family vault so he could pick up his family ring and put it on (though the female Delacours had to wait outside the vault). Once that was done, Griphook gave Harry some sort of debit/credit card in one that was also capable of being used in the muggle world, thenthey headed back to the Gringotts transportation room to return to the Paris branch of Gringotts, accompanied by Sharpbait. Antonio went to the London Ministry of Magic to talk with Amelia Bones (he knew she was the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement). Once he made it to Amelia's office, Antonio knocked on the door.

"Come in!" she called. Then Antonio walked in, surprising Amelia (she was wearing black ministry robes and had a monocle over one eye).

"Ah, Monsieur Delacour," greeted the head of the DMLE. "It's great to see you again."

"Great to see you too, Amelia," Antonio greeted back. "I came here because Harry Potter was found in Paris several weeks ago. Apolline and myself have been looking after him when our daughters informed us of what Harry told them."

Antonio handed a copy of the Potters will to Amelia. She couldn't believe that nobody managed to find Harry until then. Amelia was outraged that Albus had intentionally ignored Lily and James' will. She was also angered that Peter was the one who _really_ betrayed Harry's parents, along with the fact that Sirius never even received a trial for his supposed crimes in the first place. Antonio even proceeded to tell Amelia the circumstances regarding meeting Harry and how he came to be in his and Apolline's custody. Amelia couldn't believe that the Dursleys signed custody of Harry over without second thoughts.

"Cornelius won't allow Sirius to get a trial," said Amelia. "He'll think that doing so will ruin his career."

"What if some of the french ministry officials offer to transfer him?" asked Antonio.

"That could work," said Amelia. "After all, Albus is on that business trip for the International Confederation of Wizards."

"Excellent," said Antonio. "Sirius will probably want to be closer to Harry, and Harry has been getting along with my daughters well. I think Gabby will be heartbroken if Harry had to come back here to London."

"I understand that," said Amelia. "Did you also come to talk to me about Harry staying with you and your family?"

"Yes," said Antonio. "Just to make sure the other people on the list of potential guardians are fine with it."

"I'm okay with it," assured Amelia. "Since you and Apolline were looking after him first, you deserve to keep him in your custody."

"Thank you, Amelia," said Antonio. "I'd better get the okay from the others on the list."

"Lord and Lady Greengrass are here at the ministry." said Amelia.

"That'll save some time, I won't have to worry about using the floo." said Antonio, then he handed the vial with the soul fragment to the head of the DMLE. "This vial has a soul fragment inside, it had been behind Harry's scar."

"Merlin," said Amelia in surprise, examining the soul fragment inside the vial. "The unspeakables will need to take a look at this."

"Yes, they must know," agreed Antonio. "I'd better get my other errands taken care of."

"Alright, take care Antonio." said Amelia.

"You too, Amelia." said Antonio.

Once he bade Amelia goodbye and left the office, Antonio went to discuss Harry staying in his family's custody with the others on the list of potential guardians, knowing it was the right thing to do. Meanwhile Harry, Gabby, Fleur and Apolline made it back to the Gringotts in Paris. Once they left the building and were back in Place Cachee, Apolline led the kids over to a clothing boutique.

"We need to get you some robes soon, Harry," said Apolline. "The rags you have are not suitable."

"What about getting Harry some everyday clothes, maman?" asked Gabby.

"Yes, that too, Gabby," said Apolline. "We'll do that today and wait until closer to the first day at Beauxbatons before we worry about the robes."

So they went into the clothes boutique to get Harry some muggle clothes his size. Harry felt like a normal child for once when he got a look at himself in the mirror. Harry was about to throw his overly large hand-me-down rags away, but Apolline stopped him.

"Harry, why not wait?" she suggested. "Maybe we can have a little bonfire by burning them instead."

"That's actually… a great idea," agreed Harry. "Thanks for suggesting that! I'd actually like to see them burn."

"Before we head home, we ought to pay a visit to Madame Maxime," said Apolline. "She'd be delighted to meet you, Harry."

"She's the current headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy." stated Fleur.

They all went to another boutique to purchase some more floo powder. Apolline wanted to make sure they had plenty before going to meet Madame Maxime. Once Harry, Gabby, Fleur and Apolline made it back to The Shiny Cauldron, they gathered around a fireplace (which Apolline stated that she was going to fire call the Beauxbatons headmistress, to make sure she was okay with them coming to her office at the school). After getting the fireplace ready, Apolline threw some powder in and called out the name of the Beauxbatons headmistress.

"Ah, Dame Delacour," greeted Madame Maxime, as soon as her head appeared in the fire. "What may I do for you?"

"Nothing really, Olympe," said Apolline. "I thought you'd want to meet Harry Potter."

"Well of course," said the Beauxbatons headmistress. "I'm just taking a break from getting the next school year ready. So come on over to my office."

So Apolline ended the fire call, so she, Harry, Gabby and Fleur could get ready to floo to Madame Maxime's office. Fleur went first since she was already comfortable with the headmistress. Since Harry was always adamant on the ladies first policy, Gabby was the next one to go. Harry had little choice but to go next since Apolline wanted to make sure he, Gabby and Fleur would make it alright. Harry made sure to remember to speak clearly of his destination before flooing to the headmistress' office at Beauxbatons. Once Harry recovered, Fleur and Gabby helped him up. Harry got a good look at the headmistress and she appeared to be about nine feet tall. Seconds after he made it and got out of the fireplace _and_ out of the way, Apolline finally appeared. Madame Maxime offered them a seat in front of her desk and proceeded to introduce herself.

"Bonjour, Monsieur Potter," said the Beauxbatons headmistress, holding her hand out at Harry. "I'm Madame Olympe Maxime, headmistress of the Beauxbatons Academy Of Magic."

"It's nice to meet you, Madame Maxime." said Harry as he shook her hand.

Then they left the office, so Madame Maxime could show Harry and Gabby around, allowing them to explore Beauxbatons Academy before the next school year. Fleur eventually took over the tour because Apolline had to talk to Madame Maxime about Harry. When they explored the grounds outside, Harry widened his eyes in awe at how the building looked so magnificent and shiny, something like a chateau. There were some fountains, not to mention that there were a number of majestic gardens surrounding the castle. Fleur even showed Harry and Gabby over to some kind of breath-taking view, which told Harry that they were somewhere on a mountain. Gabby even told Harry that the school was on the Pyrenees mountains when she caught the confused look on his face, with Harry nodding his head in understanding. Fleur even explained how the students arrive by a subway train that arrives in a station close by a village where certain students can visit on some weekends. Then the students would get on carriages (pulled by winged horses) and ride in it for a mile, up to the front gate of Beauxbatons.

"Is Monsieur Potter under your care?" asked the Beauxbatons headmistress.

"Yes, he is," stated Apolline. "It was around mid June when Gabby first spotted him at the zoo. It was like they've almost become inseparable ever since."

"How did he end up in Paris?" asked Madame Maxime.

"From what Gabby and Fleur told me that day," Apolline started explaining. "Harry was there on vacation with his so-called relatives. At that time, Harry was stick skinny, had hand-me-downs several sizes too big, and _even_ scars and welts all over his back and torso. Some of them were even recent at the time. One day, Harry crossed paths with Gabby again, that time we were prepared and Antonio eventually found Harry's relatives. He showed them custody papers and they signed them without _any_ second thoughts. After Harry recovered from his injuries and malnutrition, we went to Gringotts so Harry could read his parents will, and this was earlier today before we came here."

"I see," said Madame Maxime. "Was he shocked to learn about that?"

"Yes he was," stated Apolline. "Albus Dumbledore was the only witness to sign, which was a clear enough indication that _he_ left Harry with his relatives, the Dursleys."

"Harry must stay away from that man," said Madame Maxime with realization. "We also mustn't make it easy for him to spot Harry. If Albus ever _does_ find Harry, then Merlin help us."

"Hopefully we can get Sirius cleared before Albus finishes his ICW business trip," said Apolline. "Sirius wasn't the murderer nor the traitor that most of the wizarding world believes. The Potters' will mentioned that Sirius wasn't their secret keeper, it was Peter Pettigrew."

"Sirius was innocent the whole time?" said Madame Maxime. "I don't remember hearing about a trial. I don't even recall reading about it in the Daily Prophet."

"He never received a trial in the first place," said Apolline. "That's a major violation of his rights, since Sirius is the head of the most ancient and most noble house of Black."

Once Fleur finished showing Harry and Gabby around Beauxbatons, they returned to Madame Maxime's office. After getting Harry registered to attend this upcoming year, Apolline, Harry, Gabby and Fleur said their goodbyes to the Beauxbatons headmistress and flooed back to Delacour Manor. It was an hour or so later when Antonio finally made it back himself with a man dressed in shabby clothes, and both were looking triumphant.

"Ah, Remus," Apolline greeted the man in shabby clothes. "How have you been?"

"I've been alright," said the man named Remus. "Antonio and I crossed paths just before leaving the ministry and he told me that Harry was here."

"Yes he is, Remus," said Apolline. "He was placed with his relatives, but Gabby managed to find him at the zoo one day."

"I hadn't realized that Harry was placed with his muggles relatives," said Remus, with utter shock in his voice. "Albus said that he was fine and living a normal and good life. Now I know it was _all_ irony. No matter how many times I asked, Albus never told me where Harry was, claiming it wasn't safe if I were to know where Harry was."

"Harry had all sorts of bruises, scars and welts on his back when the Dursleys signed custody of him to us," said Antonio. "And they didn't seem to be concerned at all, even if it was someone who wanted to kill Harry."

"But Harry's all healed now," said Apolline. "He's playing with Fleur and Gabby right now."

"That's good," said Remus, feeling relieved. "Lily and James would be mad at Albus for placing Harry with the Dursleys, and even mad at those muggles for their treatment towards Harry. Lily especially, and her temper wouldn't be something many people would wanna be on the receiving end of."

"Well, the aurors and I will head over to Azkaban to get Sirius tomorrow," said Antonio. "Then we can get him the trial he never received and hopefully get him cleared."

"Sirius never received a trial?!" exclaimed Remus. "I was told that he was guilty, but I never recalled reading about a trial in the Daily Prophet."

"That was the misdirection," said Antonio. "Even Amelia wasn't happy to hear about that. But she did say that Cornelius wouldn't allow a trial to happen because he'll think that'll ruin his career. I also don't think Albus would allow one, either."

"Well, Sirius must get a trial," said Remus. "Then he can finally prove his innocence and get cleared."

"Then maybe we can get custody of Harry signed over to Sirius once he finds a place," said Apolline. "Since he was the first on the list of potential guardians for him."

"I also think he'll want to stay here in France," Remus deduced. "Being chucked into Azkaban without a trial won't put England's ministry on good terms with Sirius, except for a handful."

"At least here, Sirius will have a chance to get cleared." stated Antonio.

"Were the others on the list of potential guardians alright with us keeping custody of Harry?" Apolline asked Antonio.

"Yes, they were," assured Antonio. "Lord and Lady Greengrass _did_ tell me that their daughters were wanting to meet him, especially Astoria."

"But there will be formals," assured Apolline. "Maybe we can also throw one, big birthday party for Harry and Gabby, since they're only a week and a half apart. We can even invite the other most ancient and most noble houses over as guests."

"That could definitely work," agreed Antonio. "Allow all of them a chance to meet Harry. Minerva also wished to meet Harry properly, since she was James' godmother."

At that moment, Harry, Gabby and Fleur came jogging into the living room (where the adults were). Harry was stunned at seeing the man in shabby clothes.

"Harry, this is Remus Lupin," said Antonio, pointing to the man next to him. "He was best friends with your father."

"It's good to see again, Harry," said Remus, shaking hands with him. "You may not remember it, but I've held you a couple times when you were a baby."

"It's nice to m-meet you, Remus." said Harry.

"I actually tried to find you that night," said Remus. "But Albus would never tell me where you were, as he claimed that this Greater Good required you to be under his control. I also wished to look after you, but in England, my condition made it nearly impossible for me to find work. Once we get to know each other better, I'll tell you what my health condition is."

"Okay." said Harry.

Later that evening after dinner, Antonio and Apolline went outside to get their fire pit ready. Harry was looking forward to this because he could burn those hand-me-down rags as a celebration for no longer being with the Dursleys. Even Gabby and Fleur were smiling in anticipation.

"Go ahead, Harry," said Antonio and Apolline, once they got the fire lit. "Toss those overly large rags into the fire."

Harry threw his cousin's old clothes into the fire pit without second thoughts. Once the rags started burning, everyone cheered that Harry can finally put his previous life behind him (now that he no longer had something with him to remind him of the Dursleys). Now they all had to prepare for was the trial for Sirius Black.

 _To be continued!_


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: As usual, all I own is this fanfic. J.K. Rowling owns the rest, no copyright intended!_

 **Chapter 6: The Trial For Sirius Black**

The next morning Antonio, the french minister and several french aurors made their way over to Azkaban to meet up with London's minister Cornelius Fudge (who seemed ecstatic that Sirius wouldn't be in Azkaban for much longer). Amelia had told him what all the french ministry offered and the incompetent London minister accepted the offer without second thoughts. Once they were there, they all approached the cell where Sirius Black was residing in.

"Mr. Black," said Cornelius. "You're going to be transported to the french wizarding prison. We've already decided that you shouldn't be in Azkaban, the fact that you're still sane somehow has been proving that for far too long."

Sirius was confused by this and wonder why Cornelius was having him transferred, and for whom. But nevertheless, he obeyed when the London minister instructed him out. Then Sirius was placed in magic suppression handcuffs, with the french minister and the few french aurors (Antonio included) leading the supposed mass murderer out. Once they were back at the french Ministry of Magic, Sirius was taken over to an interrogation room. Then Antonio came in, surprising the head of the most ancient and most noble house of Black.

"Antonio!" Sirius greeted the head of House Delacour in surprise. "What's going on?"

"A trial for you, Sirius." stated Antonio.

"A trial, really?" asked Sirius.

"Yes," assured Antonio. "Harry was found several weeks ago and after he recovered from his injuries, Apolline, our daughters and myself took Harry to Gringotts to get the reading of Lily and James' will out of the way and it mentioned that you weren't the secret keeper."

He showed a copy of the will to prove to Sirius that he was telling the truth. Sirius was both surprised and angry (surprised that Harry was in safe hands, but angry at Albus because he never bothered to justify the kangaroo court thing). Sirius vowed to stay away from England as much as possible, and to begin being a father figure to Harry.

"So Harry is okay!" said Sirius with glee.

"Yes," said Antonio. "He's over at the manor with Apolline and our daughters. Remus is also there, trying to get to know Harry better. They'll be here at the ministry as soon as possible, so we can get that trial for you out of the way."

Sirius couldn't keep his excitement contained, he just wanted to reunite with Harry right now. All too soon, Sirius was placed in magic suppression handcuffs again and escorted to courtroom seven. At the same time, Harry, Gabby, Fleur, Apolline and Remus made it to the courtroom and found seats to sit on. Sirius caught a glimpse of his godson sitting by Remus. Harry was also sitting by Antonio and Apolline's youngest daughter. Sirius was instructed to sit in the defendant's chair (though he was placed in chains and shackles that were connected to the chair). Once Sirius was seated and the french Wizengamot (which also included Antonio) came in and sat in the Wizengamot box, the trial started with the french minister banging his gavel on the raised desk.

"Court is now in session!" the minister declared.

Once permission was granted, french auror Hector Absil administered three drops of a clear liquid into Sirius' mouth.

"That's Veritaserum, Harry," stated Remus when he saw the puzzled look on Harry's face. "The most powerful truth potion."

Harry nodded his head to show he understood. Sirius' eyes clouded over and fell into a trance-like state. Then Hector started asking Sirius questions.

"What is your name?" asked Hector, checking to make sure the Veritaserum was working.

"Sirius Orion Black." Sirius replied in a monotone voice.

"Did you betray Lily and James that night?" asked Hector.

"No," said Sirius. "Although Lily, James and I did suggest that Peter Pettigrew should be secret keeper because we didn't think anybody would suspect him. We also believed it was safer that way."

"Does that mean that Peter was the real traitor?" asked Hector.

"Yes," said Sirius. "I didn't think he'd turn to Voldemort's side. After Peter told him where Lily, James and Harry were, Voldemort went after them. He killed Lily and James first, then he tried to kill Harry. But for some reason, the curse rebounded and hit Voldemort, making him lose all his power. Harry was left with a lightning bolt scar on his forehead."

"What happened after that?" asked Hector.

"Well, I went to get Harry," said Sirius. "But a friend beat me to it and took Harry away on Dumbledore's orders. Then I went after Peter to confront him over his betrayal, only to lead me to my unjust incarceration in Azkaban."

"How did Peter frame you for his crimes?" asked Hector.

"He yelled out that I was the traitor loud enough for it to be heard," said Sirius. "Then he used a spell to create an explosion that subsequently killed those twelve muggles and cut off his finger, then he transformed into his animagus form and fled. That's how he was able to frame me for his crimes."

"How did he become an animagus?" asked Hector.

He, James and I learned to become animagi in our fifth year," Sirius continued. "We did to keep our best friend, Remus Lupin company on the nights he transformed because we knew that only posed a danger to people and not animals. During the first wizarding war, James and I especially believed that we'd be doing the wizarding world a favour if we spied on the death eaters in our animagus forms, with the intention of giving the ministry any potential necessary information regarding Voldemort and his followers."

"I see," said Hector. "I guess it's time to give him the antidote now."

So Sirius was given the antidote for Veritaserum, so he waited in the defendant's chair while the french minister called for a short recess to give the Wizengamot time to decide what they had in mind for Sirius. After five to ten minutes, the Wizengamot came back and returned to their seats.

"We find Sirius innocent!" stated Antonio.

"Lord Black," said the french minister. "You're cleared of charges. But you must register as an animagus within seven days if you wish avoid another incarceration."

"I understand," said Sirius. "I'll do that once my trial is over."

So the minister banged his gavel to signal the end of Sirius' trial. Then Sirius got up and left to get his animagus registration taken care of once he was released from the chains and shackles. Antonio went to join Harry, Gabby, Fleur, Apolline and Remus as they were getting ready to walk out of the courtroom. The process of becoming a registered animagus didn't take too long for Sirius. Once he was finished, he also went to join the others.

"Thank you, pup," said Sirius gratefully, to Harry. "I also apologize for not being there you when you needed it."

"You're welcome, Sirius," said Harry. "When I read my parents' will, I realized that I should've gone to you first. I always wondered why you never came to get me. Then I was told about your unjust imprisonment without a trial."

"Yes," said Sirius. "That night your parents were murdered, I intended to retrieve you from the wreckage of the house. I was too late because a friendly half giant named Rubeus Hagrid came by to take you to the Dursleys, but he was only doing so on Albus Dumbledore's orders. I was so upset by your parents' deaths that I went to confront Peter for the betrayal. I was also going to take you from the Dursleys myself because it wasn't Dumbledore's right to place you with those muggles. Peter framing me for his crimes prevented me from coming to get you, especially when I got this kangaroo court treatment."

Harry was teary eyed when he finally understood Sirius' true intentions from the start. Harry gave Sirius a hug to prove how grateful he was, with Sirius returning it. After leaving the french ministry, they all decided to go out into Muggle Paris and look for a cafe for lunch.

(Scene break)

At the London ministry, a man with red hair and glasses happened to be going over some paperwork. This man was the head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. He heard a knock on his office door and looked up.

"Come in!" the man called.

He was surprised to see that it was Amelia. She looked as though she was urgent to talk with him, so the man stopped working on his paperwork. Then Amelia cast some locking charms and privacy wards on the door.

"Can I help you with something, Amelia?" asked the red haired man.

"No Arthur, this discussion has nothing to do with me needing help," assured Amelia. "I came here on behalf of Harry Potter."

"Really?!" asked the man named Arthur, who was baffled.

"Yes," assured Amelia. "Monsieur Antonio Delacour came by my office yesterday. He explained that his youngest daughter, Gabby crossed paths with Harry around in mid June. The Delacours were at a zoo in Paris that day, but it wasn't until a few days after that when Antonio and Apolline saw Harry for themselves. Both of their daughters made friends with Harry and they told them what all Harry explained. Antonio even told me about all the injuries Harry initially suffered at the hands of the Dursleys."

"Am I hearing that right?" said Arthur, getting suspicious. "The Dursleys really abused Harry? I remember you and Augusta mentioning how you were all going crazy looking for Harry! If I also remember right, neither you nor Augusta never believed Sirius Black to be a murderer. I don't remember reading about Sirius getting a trial."

"Antonio showed me a copy of the Potters' will," Amelia explained. "And it mentioned that Peter Pettigrew was the secret keeper. But Sirius was still chucked into Azkaban without a trial, despite being the head of the most ancient and most noble house of Black."

"If only Cornelius would ever listen to reason," said Arthur. "But he's more concerned about his career than the truth."

"But Antonio and several french aurors offered to escort Sirius," said Amelia. "Cornelius was quick to accepting it without second thoughts. Antonio told me that the french ministry went to Azkaban to take Sirius to the french ministry to get him the trial he rightfully deserved."

"I do hope that he's found innocent and cleared," said Arthur. "I'm guessing that he'll want to stay in France."

"That's my guess," said Amelia. "Since the majority of the ministry lost his respect. Harry being placed with the Dursleys was all Albus' idea. When Antonio showed me the copy he had, it also revealed that Albus was the only witness to sign it. That allowed him to use that to his advantage, and thus he declared himself Harry's magical guardian."

"So Albus defied Lily and James' wishes not to place Harry with the Dursleys?!" asked Arthur, who could hardly believe his ears.

"Yes," said Amelia. "Anytime either Augusta or I asked him where Harry was, Albus wouldn't reveal his location. He would defend his words with the claim that it was for this Greater Good."

"Merlin," said Arthur. "Albus has been abusing his positions all this time? Too bad neither Molly, Ron nor Ginny will listen to that. They just blindly listen to Albus without question, which I know is unwise. Something's been going on with them for a while, but I _just_ can't put my finger on it."

"That was another thing mentioned in the Potters' will," said Amelia. "It mentioned that Lily and James' first meeting with Molly went sour because of her claim that Harry and Ginny were destined to marry, with Harry and Ron destined to be best mates."

"So Molly has been raising them that way after all," Arthur realized. "If only I had some leads that would provide sufficient proof, since a hunch or simply saying you've seen it written down somewhere won't stand up in court."

"True," said Amelia. "But as long as Albus, Molly, Ron and Ginny leave Harry alone, I won't worry too much. But I won't hesitate to step in if the situation gets out of control."

"So this means that Harry will be safe with the Delacours and especially safe as long as he stays out of the open here in England at least." Arthur deduced.

"Pretty much," said Amelia. "But do be careful and make sure nobody gets wind of our discussion. We can't risk somebody telling Albus about Harry no longer under the Dursleys custody."

"My lips are sealed, Amelia," assured Arthur. "I'd hate to think that Harry's relatives will try to kill him if he goes back to them."

So Amelia left to return to her office. Arthur developed a skeptical look on his face after she left. How could his wife and their two youngest children obey Dumbledore's so-called instructions, since the will kind of implied it (especially with Albus' as the only witness to sign it). Arthur knew that this case would be far from finished. Arthur also realized that since the Potters' will had been read, Harry was now the head of the most ancient and most noble house of Potter.

Back in Paris, Harry and company had finished eating lunch and were now taking a walk around the city. This time, Harry was allowed to openly enjoy himself (since he didn't have to worry about the Dursleys any more). Sirius and Remus could tell that Harry and Gabby must be destined for each other because they've pretty much been inseparable ever since they met. Even Antonio, Apolline and Fleur saw how much Harry and Gabby enjoyed each others' company. They all even decided to visit the Eiffel Tower, something Harry was looking forward to. Harry was fascinated with the view of Paris from the observation deck (it looked like a model city from the visitors' point of view). Even Sirius and Remus couldn't hide their fascination with how small Paris looked from being way up on the deck. Harry and company also checked out Notre Dame Cathedral. All too soon, it was time for them to return to Delacour Manor. Once Harry, Gabby and Fleur were in different rooms in the manor, Antonio, Apolline, Sirius and Remus went into one themselves. After a locking charm and privacy wards were cast on the door, the four adults began talking.

"Sirius," said Antonio. "What do you think? Shall a betrothal contract between Harry and Gabrielle be drawn up?"

"I think we should do that," agreed Sirius. "I can see just how much they enjoy being around each other. We should do it while we're still ahead, just so Harry doesn't have to be forced into a marriage by contract with somebody who he may come to loathe."

"When we went to Gringotts for the reading of the Potters' will," said Apolline. "We discovered that Albus drew up a void marriage contract with this Molly Weasley to have Harry marry her daughter, Ginevra. Gabby momentarily believed it to be real and she stormed out of Ragnok's office in tears. Then I told her that the contract was void because Lily and James couldn't have agreed with something that was drawn up after their deaths."

"That's exactly why the betrothal contract should be drawn up as soon as possible." said Remus.

"Maybe it can be a surprise present for both Harry and Gabby," Sirius suggested. "Seeing that they're only a week and a half apart."

"That's what Apolline and I had been thinking," said Antonio. "During Harry's recovery, we were talking about possibly getting a betrothal contract drawn up between him and Gabby. That could be a wonderful birthday present for them."

The adults agreed to that. Then Sirius, Antonio and Apolline decided to go to Gringotts tomorrow to try and get a betrothal contract for Harry and Gabby drawn up. Remus opted to stay at the manor to keep an eye on Harry, Gabby and Fleur. Later that night in a wizarding hotel in Tokyo, Albus Dumbledore was keeping busy in his hotel room. He knew tomorrow was when the third quarter of the conference would be starting, over in Sydney, Australia and then that next week he would be in Paris for the final part of the conference. Albus had a copy of The Daily Prophet in his hand and began reading it. He widened his eyes in shock when he read the headline of the front page article, which said:

 **Sirius Black Cleared Of Spy And Murder Charges**

 _Sirius Orion Black, head of the most ancient and most noble house of Black had his rightful trial today at 10:00 AM in courtroom seven at the Ministry of Magic in Paris, France. Under the influence of Veritaserum, Black admitted that he never received a trial in the first place and that the one who really betrayed Lily and James Potter was Peter Pettigrew. London's minister, Cornelius Fudge denied comment once he found out that Black's imprisonment in Azkaban was unjustified. Fudge was fired as minister on the spot, with Madam Amelia Bones acting as a temporary minister until a new one gets elected. As it turned out, Barty Crouch was also guilty of corruption as he, too gave Sirius a kangaroo court. Crouch was also fired on the spot, pending investigations behind charges of corruption. Dolores Jane Umbridge, undersecretary to the minister was also fired on the spot when it was found out that she also agreed to the kangaroo court. Fudge, Crouch and Umbridge are currently in a ministry holding cell awaiting trial for crimes of corruption._

Albus couldn't believe that Sirius managed to find a loophole (still unaware that Harry was no longer under the Dursleys care). The current headmaster of Hogwarts knew he couldn't do anything until the conference was over. Then Albus realized that the last week of the conference being in Paris would be a huge advantage (or so, he thought).

'This wasn't how the Greater Good was supposed to go,' thought Albus. 'If Sirius found Harry _and_ is looking after him, then I'll have him arrested on kidnapping charges. Harry must stay with the Dursleys, that's his only safe haven from those out to get him. Once I get back to London, I'll have a word with the Dursleys and see if Harry is still with them.'

Albus knew it would still be a while before he could continue with his plans. But to him, it gave him time to think long and hard about how it should be pulled off. He also knew that he had to inform Molly what had happened (assuming that she hadn't read the Daily Prophet yet). Albus also decided to inform some of his other allies of his next set of plans when he had the chance. What he didn't realize was that the french ministry was planning some precautionary measures to ensure that the Supreme Mugwump of the ICW would stay as far away from Harry as possible.

 _To be continued!_


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: As usual, all I own is this fanfic. The OC Xander Scamander belongs to 5UP3RN0V32015. The rest of the Harry Potter universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. No copyright intended!_

 **Chapter 7: Albus On The Prowl**

The next day after breakfast, Sirius, Antonio and Apolline left Delacour Manor to go to Gringotts and get the betrothal contract for Harry and Gabby drawn up. As part of the agreement, Remus decided to stay at Delacour Manor to keep an eye on Harry, Gabby and Fleur. After Sirius, Antonio and Apolline made it back half an hour or so later, they all decided to go outside and relax by the swimming pool. Harry was wearing a pair of emerald-green swim shorts, Gabby was wearing a sky-blue bikini while Fleur's was a blue-green colour. Harry was hesitating to walk into the pool since the Dursleys never allowed him any form of happiness. Not only that, but they never spent any money on 'the freak,' including signing him up for swimming lessons. This was also the first time Harry even approached a swimming pool. Gabby spotted Harry's stiffening body and swam over to him waiting by the steps leading down into the pool.

"Harry, are you alright?" asked Gabby in a soothing voice.

"Uh huh," said Harry sheepishly. "Just a little tense about entering a swimming pool. I've never been in one before."

"You can do it, Harry," said Gabby as she walked up the pool steps and gently grabbed a hold of Harry's hand, making sure that her voice had as much encouragement in it as possible. "Water's nothing to be afraid of. It's coolness feels good on a hot day outside. Just take it one step at a time, I'll be right here with you!"

Harry smiled at Gabby's reassurance. Then she walked down one step , still holding one of Harry's hands. When Harry managed to walk down one step, he could feel the water reaching his ankles and it was cold for him. Then after a minute, Gabby walked down another step (making sure she still held Harry's hand), with Harry following suit. He felt the water reach his knees. Sirius, Remus, Fleur and the adult Delacours were watching Gabby helping Harry overcome his uneasiness of the swimming pool. After some more encouragement from Gabby, Harry finally made it into the pool and started swimming around in the shallow end. Everybody started clapping and cheering for Harry once he made it in the pool, especially Gabby.

"Great job, Harry!" Gabby praised, giving Harry a hug. "You did it, you finally came in!"

"Th-Thank you, G-Gabbyyyy," Harry stuttered, feeling proud of himself nonetheless. "It feels good! I'm not sure about swimming in the deep end yet."

"Well, give it some time, Harry," said Gabby in a soothing voice. "Fleur and I can help you once you feel ready."

"Okay," said Harry. "Maybe swimming around in the shallow end for a while can help me prepare for the deep end."

So Harry continued swimming around in the shallow end. This was certainly a new experience for him. It was like he was putting his life with the Dursleys further and further out of his life. It was making Sirius and Remus happy to see Harry enjoying himself openly (the grins on their faces were proving it). They wished they could show the betrothal contract to Harry and Gabby, but they knew it would be better to surprise them with it for the birthday party planned for the pre-teens. Sirius and Remus knew that day would be arriving before they knew it.

Meanwhile at the Burrow, Molly, Ron and Ginny were in a secret room unknown to the rest of their family members. Molly was brewing up some potions while Ron and Ginny took to filling up empty vials and/or bottles with the finished potions. They were ecstatic and continued getting more and more ecstatic as September 1st drew closer and closer. The potions Molly happened to be brewing up were Amortentia (the most powerful love potion) and some loyalty potions. The potions were meant for Harry, so the three Weasleys could get Harry to marry Ginny. This would give them the opportunity to get all the money in his family vault and once that was done, Molly would divorce her husband and then she'd grab her two youngest children _and_ hightail it out of England the first chance they got. Then they would meet up with Albus in a different country and live a luxurious life and leave Harry bankrupt.

"If only the seven years would just get here already," said Ginny. "It's just gonna seem like an eternity."

"But September 1st will be getting here before we know it, Ginny," assured Molly. "That will give you the opportunity to make sure Harry is smitten with you! Like Albus said a while back, Harry will be so clueless that he'll just follow us without knowing our real intentions. Albus also ensured us that he'll make sure the hat sorts Harry into Gryffindor, to make the plan work easier!"

"And as long as that happens, it'll be easier for me to become 'best mates' with him," said Ron. "If any student beside myself and Ginny tries to befriend Harry, I'll be sure to warn them off in any way I can."

"And once I start attending Hogwarts," said Ginny with glee. "I'll even show the other girls what the consequences will be if they come within five feet of my Harry, and how severe they'll be. I'll even be violent in that if I have to!"

"If any scions or scionesses of any of the most ancient and most noble houses ask you two any questions," said Molly. "You must use cover stories, and make sure to answer any question right away. That will ensure that we won't draw up any suspicions."

"What if anybody in the family asks us any of those kinds of questions?" asked Ron and Ginny in unison. "Shall we use the same cover stories?"

"Yes, that's definitely a must," stated Molly. "We must succeed, remember that."

"Yes, mum!" said Ron and Ginny obediently.

So they all resumed their respective tasks. As much as they wanted the day they'd meet Harry to arrive now, the three Weasleys knew that they needed to be patient if their plan was to work. Molly, Ron and Ginny were still unaware that Harry was elsewhere and had no intentions to blindly follow their so called lead. While Albus was also still unaware that Harry was in France, he was suspicious of the article mentioning Sirius having been cleared. Once he made it to Paris, Albus decided to use his free time to try and track Harry and Sirius down. Once they were caught, Albus would place Harry back in the Dursleys custody (if he was anywhere in Paris, that was), but Sirius would be returned to Azkaban on kidnapping and ransom charges. Albus grinned to himself, believing that the plan was a foolproof one.

(Scene break)

The last week of the ICW conference finally arrived and the members (including Albus) arrived in Paris at half past 8:00 AM. Albus had some free time, so he started strolling around the city to try and locate Harry and Sirius. The Hogwarts headmaster didn't have any luck looking around the city (realizing he was looking for a needle in a haystack), so he went to the french Ministry of Magic to ask around. As he was doing that, Albus didn't notice a mysterious man (presumably in his late 20s or early 30s) happened to be there too. The mysterious man eyed Albus very suspiciously, so he decided to spy on Albus asking suspicious questions.

"Mr. Absil," Dumbledore asked Hector. "Have you seen Harry Potter and Sirius Black?"

"That's privileged information, Albus," said Hector firmly. "Now unless you have real business here, I suggest you leave at once."

"But Harry isn't safe wherever he may be," Dumbledore claimed. "And Sirius just kidnapped him!"

"Uh huh, sure he did!" said Hector sarcastically. Then he continued on in an agitated voice. "Unless you wish to be incarcerated, I'd suggest you leave the ministry. I don't care if you're the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot in London's ministry, but this is Paris you're in! If our minister finds out you're here looking for Harry and Sirius, he'll have you arrested on the spot, kapeesh?"

Albus reluctantly backed off and left the ministry. The mysterious man spying on the ordeal was even more suspicious, especially when Albus mentioned Harry Potter. Once Albus was a reasonable distance away, the strange man approached Hector.

"Excuse me, Mr. Absil!" said the stranger.

"Xander Scamander!" Hector greeted while shaking his hand. "I haven't seen you in aeons it seems like!"

"I agree," said Xander. "So you know where Harry is?"

"Yes, I do," said Hector. "But we need to talk about this in my office. I don't want to think about the possibility Albus eavesdropping in on us."

"I concur!" said Xander in agreement.

So he and Hector began walking to the latter's office. Albus _did_ consider following the two, but he needed to get get ready for the ICW meeting. So he left the ministry, but also to ensure he didn't land himself in hot water. Otherwise, the Greater Good plan would backfire big time. Once Xander and Hector arrived in the office, Hector placed some locking charms and privacy wards on the door (to ensure that they wouldn't be disturbed). Once that was done, Hector sat down on the chair behind his desk while Xander took a seat in front of it.

"To answer your question, Xander," said Hector. "Yes, I know where Harry is. He's safely at Delacour Manor. That's also where Sirius is."

"I see," said Xander. "I remember reading an article mentioning Sirius having been cleared of charges here. So I figured that Harry must've been somewhere around here. It wasn't long after He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named lost all his power that night when I found out something suspicious. Amelia told me that she was one of many people who'd been looking for Harry. She also mentioned how other families of the other most ancient and most noble houses, including herself being potential guardians for Harry."

"That's correct," said Hector. "Antonio and Apolline happened to tell me that they were some of Harry's potential guardians themselves. But Harry is in the safety of the wards around Delacour Manor. We'll need to give Antonio the heads up, if he hasn't been informed yet of Dumbledore on the prowl for Harry and Sirius."

"Agreed!" said Xander.

So the two got up and left the office to look for Antonio. Meanwhile at Delacour Manor around noon, Apolline called Harry, Gabby and Fleur inside for lunch. Sirius and Remus were in the living room when the fireplace activated, with Antonio's face appearing.

"Sirius, Remus," said Antonio with an anxious look on his face. "Could you get Apolline, Harry, Gabby and Fleur and call them over to the fireplace?"

"Yes, they'll be right over." said Remus as Sirius went over to the dining room.

"Antonio needs us around the fireplace," Sirius told Apolline, Harry, Gabby and Fleur in a matter-of-fact voice. "It's urgent!"

So Harry, Gabby, Fleur and Apolline followed Sirius back over to the living room. Seeing the look on Antonio's face, they knew that something must've happened.

"Harry," said Antonio. "Seeing that the International Confederation of Wizards just arrived in Paris this morning, that means Albus Dumbledore is somewhere in Paris. I was notified of what the ole coot tried to get Hector to spill the beans. So Harry, for your safety and Sirius', the both of you should stay within the wards around our manor until the ICW conference is over. If Dumbledore finds either or both of you, he'll do anything to take you back to London."

"Figures," said Harry with exasperation in his voice. "He just won't give up, will he?"

"I'm afraid not," said Antonio. "But, there is somebody who is helping you and Sirius out. His name is Xander Scamander and he's been trying to figure out what Dumbledore's Greater Good plan is all about for about the last ten years. Rectifying misfortunes is what Xander specializes in."

"We haven't seen him in forever." said Sirius and Remus in unison.

"Has this Xander had any luck in trying to get Dumbledore to back off?" asked Harry.

"No unfortunately," said Antonio. "Since the ole coot continues to be discreet, nobody really knows what his motives are and Xander never liked that."

"Do you think he'll try to do anything to get me back in Azkaban?" asked Sirius.

"I think so," said Antonio. "But there's no proof that he could planning to try that. But the minister is doing everything to make sure that Albus can't come anywhere close to you and/or Harry, Sirius. Even if you and Harry are the head of House Black and House Potter respectively, Dumbledore will just do anything remotely possible to look for even for the lamest excuse to get Harry back under his control and defend his actions."

"So I guess I'm gonna have to stay inside until Dumbledore leaves the country." said Harry.

"Harry, the wards don't just cover the manor," said Gabby. "It also covers our entire property. You can still go outside, just don't wander too far from the yard."

"Oh, I should've realized that," said Harry sheepishly. "I always thought it only meant that the manor was warded."

"Does Amelia know about this?" asked Remus.

"That I don't know, Remus," said Antonio. "It's quite possible she may have found out about it."

"Maybe I should also stay within the wards," said Remus, trusting his instincts. "If Dumbledore spots me, he may try to blackmail me into returning to his side by using the whole 'you owe me for allowing you to attend Hogwarts despite your condition' defence. I have no intentions to go back to Albus' side due to his manipulative nature and his tendency to abuse his power."

"Good idea, Remus," said Antonio. "Any more of those misdirection games happening and it will just result in further corruption for the ole coot. Well, I'd better go and get work done. See you all tonight."

"Alright, see you tonight!" Everybody in the living room chorused.

Then Antonio's face disappeared from the fireplace and the fire went out. Everybody went to sit down on the couch or armchairs to ponder their thoughts. The remainder of the ICW conference was going to seem like an eternity. But Harry knew that staying within the wards until Dumbledore left was a good idea. Harry also figured that his skills in hiding (a result from all those times he was trying to avoid Dudley and his gang playing their favourite game, Harry Hunting) wouldn't do much good in Dumbledore's case, realizing he had his ways of trying to track him down. Gabby gave Harry a hug and Harry hugged her back.

"We'll all be fine," assured Gabby in a soothing whisper. "Dumbledore may not give up so easily, but we all have ways of trying to make certain information clear."

"Like what?" asked Harry, intrigued.

"Well, we can extract memories," said Gabby. "We can view them with an object called a pensieve."

"I just have to hope he doesn't just assume that any of my memories are fake." said Harry.

"But, we also have magical and life oaths," stated Fleur. "You just point a wand up in the air and say 'I swear by my life and magic that so and so has happened, so mote it be,' which can't be cheated."

"I see," said Harry. "Maybe Dumbledore will listen to that, but I'm still gonna be cautious."

"That's good, Harry," said Sirius in agreement. "Better safe than sorry!"

So everybody went back to the dining room to finish eating lunch. Harry was grateful for the charms placed on the food to keep them fresh since in the muggle world, the food would eventually go bad and no longer be edible if left out for too long. Hopefully this Xander will be able to find all the evidence needed to get Dumbledore in hot water.

 _To be continued!_

 **Author's note: I'd like to thank '5UP3RN0V32015' for coming up with the ideas of Xander being introduced and Harry being told of Xander's specialty.**


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer: As usual, all I own is this fanfic and OCs, Kassidy and Kassandra Kraymor. The OC Xander Scamander belongs to 5UP3RN0V42015. J.K. Rowling owns the rest, no copyright intended!_

 **Chapter 8: The Betrothal Contract**

The week in Paris passed by too quickly for Albus and he hardly had any time to try and locate Harry and Sirius. Albus reluctantly came to the conclusion that Harry must still be with the Dursleys and that Sirius could be elsewhere. When the conference was finally over, Albus returned to England to check on Molly, Ron and Ginny at the Burrow. Upon walking up to the front door, the Hogwarts headmaster knocked. Molly came to the door and answered it after a minute.

"Albus," Molly greeted. "How was the conference?"

"Tiring," said Albus with exasperation in his voice. "It felt like an eternity!"

"Why don't you come in," said Molly, showing Albus inside. "Ron, Ginny and I were just going over the plan again, to stay prepared."

"That's good," said Albus as he took a seat on the couch. "I don't know if you found out yet, but you need to read this."

He handed the Daily Prophet article about Sirius having been cleared of charges to Molly. She read it and found it hard to believe that the 'notorious mass murderer' escaped from Azkaban and went to Paris to get a trial. Surely the Greater Good plan wasn't supposed to work this way, Albus even said so before leaving for the conference. What may have happened while Albus was away, neither Molly nor Albus could put a finger on it. Ron and Ginny came downstairs a couple minutes later, with their mother asking them to take a seat.

"Ron, Ginny," Molly started telling her two youngest children. "It seems like the Greater Good plan is beginning to backfire."

She showed the Daily Prophet article to Ron and Ginny. Ron found it hard to believe that the man who was named Harry's godfather was cleared, making Ron think that his chances of 'befriending' Harry were crushed. Ginny was about to burst into tears, believing that she wouldn't get to see Harry now. Molly tried providing her daughter with comfort and assuring her that she would still get to see Harry. Ginny found her spirits revived, same with Ron when they realized Harry would still be attending Hogwarts (or so, they all thought).

"I'll need to rest up some before we go look for Harry," said Albus. "Not just for me to regain some energy, but this will also throw everybody off track and make the Greater Good plan an easier chance to eventually succeed."

"So they'll think that they've won?" asked Ginny gleefully.

"That's right, sweetie," said Molly to her daughter. "And they won't know what will hit them until it's too late!"

So Albus bade them all goodbye before leaving the Burrow and making it back to his office at Hogwarts. Upon taking a seat at his desk, Albus was flabbergasted by his silver instruments having collapsed. One of them monitored the blood wards around the Dursleys and the other instrument monitored the tracking charm placed on Harry to make sure he was close to the Dursleys house, St. Grogery's Primary School or Harry had to be close to Petunia and Vernon (Petunia at least). Not even five minutes of having made it back and Albus decided to pay the Dursleys a visit. Once he was outside the wards surrounding Hogwarts, Albus apparated over to an alley near Privet Drive, transfigured his colourful robes into muggle clothes, made it over to #4 and knocked on the door.

"What is it?" asked Petunia rudely, once she answered.

"I want to know where Harry is." stated Albus.

"We don't even have him anymore," said Petunia hastily. "We gave him up weeks ago!"

"Do you know where he is?" asked Albus.

"Last time he was with us, we were in Paris, France," said Petunia. "Now good day!"

She slammed the door in Albus' face, so he turned around to walk back to the alley. After returning to his office, Albus sat back down at his desk and pondered over what Petunia told him. The headmaster realized he'd been right in his guess that Harry was in Paris, he just didn't know where exactly. Albus also came to the conclusion that Sirius had to also still be in Paris himself.

"When I confront Sirius," said Albus to himself. "I'll have him arrested and returned to Azkaban for the rest of his natural life on kidnapping charges. They must realize that Harry is safe with his relatives. How could Harry refuse to call the Dursleys' place, home? His mother died by sacrificing herself for him. Surely the Dursleys can't be that bad!"

(Scene break)

It was Saturday, August 3rd, the day of the birthday party for both Harry and Gabby (even though her eleventh birthday was next Saturday). Once everyone in Delacour Manor finished breakfast, they began sprucing up the place. Some minutes after they were done, the first guests to arrive were a family of four (a mother, father and two daughters, all of whom had brown hair). One of the girls was Fleur's best friend, with the other was being Gabby's best friend.

"Hi Harry," said Gabby's best friend, holding a hand out. "I'm Kassandra Kraymor!"

"Nice to meet you!" said Harry as he sook Kassandra's hand.

"I'm Kassidy Kraymor, Harry," said Fleur's best friend, also holding a hand out. "Kassandra's sister!"

"Nice to meet you, too!" said Harry, shaking Kassidy's hand.

Harry also met Kassidy and Kassandra's mother and father (whose names were Karen and Kurt respectively). Harry figured that Kassandra would be starting her education at Beauxbatons this year (like Gabby and himself) and that Kassidy would be starting her fourth year (like Fleur). Soon, more guests started arriving for the party. Harry sort of tensed up, since this was the first time where he was around more kids his age who wouldn't be scared off by Dudley and his gang. Gabby grabbed a hold of one of Harry's hands and assured (in a soothing voice) that there wasn't anything to be afraid of and that everything would be alright. Harry nodded his head to show he understood. Sirius and Remus also helped Harry out in being more comfortable around other kids. Then a portly boy with brown hair walked up to Harry.

"Hi Harry," said the boy, holding a hand out. "I'm Neville Longbottom!"

"Nice to meet you, Neville!" said Harry, shaking Neville's hand.

"Hello, Harry," said a woman with curly brown hair turning gray, as she walked up to Harry and held a hand out. "I'm Augusta Longbottom, Neville's grandmother!"

"Nice to meet you, ma'am!" said Harry as he shook Augusta's hand.

"But no formalities, Harry," said Augusta. "It would be an honour if you'd call me gran! My daughter-in-law, Alice was named your godmother. She was Neville's mother, so that makes you and Neville godbrothers. Your mother, Lily was named Neville's godmother."

"Thank you, gran," said Harry gratefully. "That means alot!"

"You're welcome, Harry," said Augusta with a smile on her face. "Amelia and I especially had been going crazy looking for you after Voldemort's downfall, but Albus wouldn't even tell us."

Harry nodded his head to show he understood. All this made him hate Dumbledore more and more for leaving him in an abusive environment. Harry found himself enjoying Neville's company, while Gabby already met Neville before because of the occasional formals the most ancient and most noble houses would hold. Harry spotted Sirius talking to a woman with red hair turning gray (also wearing a monocle over one eye) and a girl with bright copper hair.

"Hello, Harry," said the woman, holding a hand out. "I'm Amelia Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in London's Ministry of Magic."

"Nice to meet you… Amelia." said Harry as he shook Amelia's hand. He caught himself in time, thinking that Amelia didn't want any formalities, either.

"And I'm Susan Bones," said the girl with bright copper hair, holding a hand out at Harry. "Amelia is my aunt!"

"Nice to meet you, Susan!" said Harry, shaking Susan's hand.

"Harry, how did you figure out to dispense with the pleasantries?" asked Amelia with amazement in her voice.

"Well, Augusta encouraged to do so," said Harry. "So I thought you must've wanted me to do the same. Augusta told me that you were also looking for me for a long time."

"Yes, I was," said Amelia. "Your mother, Lily even made it clear that you were to stay as far away from her sister and brother-in-law as possible. That prompted me into asking Dumbledore countless times for your whereabouts, but he never would reveal."

"So alot of families have been wanting the chance to look after me much longer than I thought!" said Harry.

"Yes, pup," said Sirius. "The fact that Dumbledore allowed the kangaroo court to happen in order to keep me outta the way means that I don't trust him anymore. He knew I was a member and that I became the head of House Black at the time, but no, he's been more concerned with this Greater Good malarkey of his."

Harry continued meeting different people as the party progressed. One boy with dark skin introduced himself as Blaise Zabini and his parents names were Bernard and Bethany. Harry also met Damon and Ariel Greengrass, along with their daughters Daphne and Astoria (or Tori for short). Harry could tell that Tori had something of a bubbly personality. She had bright-green eyes while Daphne had ice-blue eyes. The Greengrass sisters even had blonde hair (like their parents), but Daphne's was a little bit longer (same length as their mother's). Madame Maxime happened to be chatting with another half-giant and upon spotting Harry, he walked over to Harry.

"Hiya, Harry," said the half-giant, holding a hand out. "I'm Rubeus Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts!"

"Nice to meet you, Rubeus!" said Harry, shaking Hagrid's hand.

"You can just call me Hagrid if you'd like," said Hagrid. "I apologize for not doing something. I was there that night when Dumbledore placed you on the doorstep of your relatives' house. McGonagall also warned Dumbledore about their behaviour. If I'd known the full details of what all you were bound to face, I would've helped to find you a loving and caring family instead of bringing you to Dumbledore."

"I accept your apology, Hagrid," assured Harry. "Thank you for telling me."

"Anytime, Harry." said Hagrid.

"Hello, Mr. Potter," said a stern-looking witch in emerald-green robes, holding a hand out at Harry. "I'm Minerva McGonagall, deputy headmistress and transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts!"

"Nice to meet you," said Harry as he shook Minerva's hand. "My parents' will mentioned that you were my dad's godmother!"

"Yes, I was," said Minerva. "You can call me Minnie if you wish, your father used to, but only in private. I heard Hagrid explaining to you a little bit about Dumbledore placing you with your magic hating relatives. I spent much of that day watching your aunt and cousin, with your cousin demanding whatever he wanted and your aunt getting it for him. Then your aunt would complain about anything that seemed, abnormal was what she called it. I did try to reason with Dumbledore to reconsider leaving you with the Dursleys, but he remained adamant with his 'Dumbledore-knows-best' attitude, despite Lily and James' wishes for you to stay away from them. It turns out that I was right all along when Antonio came to see me and informed me of what all happened."

"Thank you for trying to help out, Minnie," said Harry gratefully. "The Dursleys were worse than what Dumbledore assumed. I was beaten relentlessly, given my cousin's overly large hand-me-downs, treated like a slave, used as a punching bag by cousin and his gang, I was even alone and friendless in primary school because my cousin and his friends made sure of it. My aunt even lied to me that my parents died in a car crash."

"That's hard to believe, Petunia lying about your parents' deaths!" said Minerva with her contempt directed at Petunia. Then she continued on in a normal voice. "I'm glad you've finally been experiencing what it's like having a loving and caring family."

Harry smiled as his dad's godmother gave him a hug, with Harry returning it. All too soon, it was time for cake and ice cream. The house elves owned by the Delacours brought a triple-decker cake in white frosting (with the words _Happy Birthday_ on the top in black icing, Harry's name in emerald-green icing below that, and Gabby's name in blue icing below Harry's name. There was a couple of candles number 1 candles, placed above the words _Happy Birthday_ , in the manner of the number eleven. Apolline cast a spell to light the candles.

"You go first, Gabby." said Harry, remaining adamant on the ladies first policy.

"Okay, Harry!" said Gabby as she grinned.

Then she turned her attention to the candles and blew them out. Everybody clapped and cheered as the candles were lit again so Harry could blow them out (Sirius did the lighting this time). When Harry blew the candles, everybody clapped and cheered again. Most of the presents for Gabby were what would be described as stuff for girls. The first gift Harry unwrapped contained a small box. Upon opening it, Harry saw that it was a mirror. He inspected the mirror and wondered why he didn't see his face in the reflection.

"It's a mirror." Harry finally said.

"Not just any mirror, Harry," stated Sirius. "It's a two-way mirror. It allows you to communicate with somebody else who has one themselves!"

"Oh okay," said Harry with realization. "That explains why I couldn't see my reflection!"

This resulted in giggles coming from everybody. Gabby got one herself, as Sirius figured that, just in case that faster communication could be needed in times of trouble. Harry's next gift was a leather book of some sorts, not just from Hagrid, but from all the other adults attending the party. Harry opened the book and saw a picture of his parents holding a then-infant Harry while hugging and kissing him. Harry also saw that these pictures moved, unlike pictures in the muggle world. Harry thanked all of the adults at once, then Hagrid approached Harry.

"Putting those pictures in that book was all my idea, Harry," Hagrid revealed. "I sent owls to all of your parents' friends to acquire the pictures. I thought you wanted something to help you out with having your parents there for you in some way."

"Thank you again, Hagrid!" said Harry as he felt tears welling up, giving the half-giant a hug (and Hagrid returning it).

The final gift was for Harry and Gabby both, from Sirius, Antonio and Apolline. Harry and Gabby could tell that everybody was eagerly watching in anticipation, they just didn't yet know why. It was some kind of parchment folded up and tied. Gabby opted to let Harry open it (in return for him allowing her to blow out the candles first). When it was finally opened, Harry and Gabby gasped in surprise at what was on the parchment. It said:

 _With the permission of Sirius Black, Antonio and Apolline Delacour, a betrothal contract has been drawn up for Harry James Potter and Gabrielle Delacour. It was decided when Harry and Gabrielle formed such a strong bond that drawing up the contract became necessary. Good luck, Harry and Gabrielle!_

 _Signed,_

 _Sirius Orion Black_

 _Antonio Delacour_

 _Apolline Delacour_

 _July 16, 1991_

Harry and Gabby had been rendered speechless by the contract. They both could feel tears welling up in their eyes. Gabby felt as though her arms and legs were losing feeling, she was that excited. Harry felt as though he became immune to the force of gravity as he, too was that excited. Everybody was grinning while watching the reactions coming from both Harry and Gabby.

"I-I-Is this a-a-a-a trick, m-m-m-maman, p-p-p-papa?" asked Gabby in a stammer. "A-A-Are H-H-Harry and I really b-b-betrothed?!"

"Is this f-f-for reeeealllllll?" Harry asked Sirius.

"It is real, the both of you are really betrothed!" said Sirius, Antonio and Apolline in unison, ecstatically.

Everybody started cheering and clapping once more when Harry and Gabby gave wide smiles. This made Harry walk up to give Sirius a great, big hug while Gabby went to give her parents a great, big hug, and vice versa. All of the kids came up to either give Harry and Gabby hugs and/or pats on their shoulders. Everybody began digging into the cake and ice cream. Harry was impressed to see that the ice cream was charmed to stay frozen and give the requested flavour. The rest of the party passed by too quickly and all too soon, it was time for everybody to go home.

"Take care, Harry, Gabby," said Blaise, patting Harry's shoulders and shaking Gabby's hand. "I hope to see you again, soon."

"You will," assured Harry. "I'll make sure of it!"

"See ya later, Harry, Gabby," said Neville, giving Harry a bro hug and shaking hands with Gabby. "One of these days, we can arrange for you all to come to Longbottom Manor."

"That'd be cool," said Harry and Gabby in unison. "See ya later, Neville."

"Bye Harry, bye Gabby," said Daphne as she gave them hugs. "Hope you can come visit us sometime."

"Don't worry, Daphne," said Harry and Gabby in unison. "We'll do anything to make arrangements for that."

Harry, Gabby and Daphne saw that Tori had her eyes on the ground while sitting on the couch (with Damon and Ariel approaching her). It looked like Tori was on the verge of crying.

"Tori, it's time to say our goodbyes." Ariel told her youngest daughter.

"But I enjoyed the time with everybody, mu-um," Tori replied tearfully. "It se-eemed like it was to-oo soo-oon!"

"I know, sweetie," said Ariel soothingly to Tori. "But you'll be seeing plenty of everyone in the future, including Harry and Gabby."

"Don't worry, Tori," assured Gabby as she put an arm around her shoulders. "We can always find some time to come visit. The next one of these occasions will be here before you know it!"

Tori nodded her head to show she understood. So she got up and gave Gabby a hug, then went to give Harry one as well. Then after Damon and Ariel said their goodbyes and gave Harry and Gabby some hugs, the Greengrass family left. Then Amelia and Susan went to do the same before leaving, followed by Augusta and Neville. Once all the goodbyes were finished and all the guests left, Harry, Remus and Sirius went to help the Delacours clean up before calling it a night. Harry and Gabby were grinning when they were in their respective bedrooms, changing into their pajamas. Even when they climbed into bed, they still had trouble refraining from smiling because of the betrothal contract. Meanwhile, Albus Dumbledore was still trying to come up with some plans he believed would be foolproof.

'Perhaps I can find out where exactly in Paris Harry may be,' thought Dumbledore. 'Once I do, I'll make sure he comes back to England and under the Dursleys' care once more. If I have to, I'll instruct some allies to either accompany me or to do the task themselves. Harry must realize that he's safe with his mother's sister at least. None of the Dursleys are that bad, they can't be! If they still refuse, then I can always have Harry stay at the Burrow.'

Albus would never acknowledge any possibility that he was risking biting off more than he could chew. That was what was going to happen, especially with the fact that the Delacours would never sign Harry's custody back to his muggle relatives. Albus also wouldn't have any idea that neither Sirius, nor Remus would give Harry up easily. In fact, they would never return to London for anything related to the supposedly greatest wizard of all time.

 _To be continued!_


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer: As usual, all I own is this fanfic and OCs, Kassidy and Kassandra. The OC Xander Scamander belongs to 5UP3RN0V42015. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling, no copyright intended!_

 **Chapter 9: The Tracking Test**

The next day, Harry and company left Delacour Manor and over to Place Cachee. Since the new year at Beauxbatons was due to start in less than a month, it was time for Harry, Gabby and Fleur to get their school supplies. They also met up with Kassidy, Kassandra and their parents before they actually started the shopping. They were unaware that Albus Too-Many-Names Dumbledore came back and was wandering around muggle Paris, trying to track Harry down so he could bring him back to England. Harry and company decided to go to Cosme Acajor's wand shop first, since finding a wand that chose the wizard or witch could take a little while. Harry saw that the wand boxes were triangular prism-shaped. Kassandra went first because Harry and Gabby didn't want anybody to think they were better than everybody else (as well as Harry's insistence on the ladies first policy). Kassandra's wand ended up being one made out of ivy wood that was ten inches long. Gabby had difficulty in finding a wand that chose her due to being quarter-veela, like Fleur.

"I knew this was gonna happen with Gabby, too." said Fleur as she watched her sister trying different wands.

"Really?" asked Harry, dumbfounded.

"Yes," Fleur started explaining. "Veela usually have to have a custom made wand that requires veela hair for their core. It's so rare to hear of any veela wielding a wand with a different core that it takes at least one-hundred years or so before the odds are defied. Even half-veela and quarter-veela almost invariably have a wand with a veela hair core."

Harry nodded his head to show that he understood. Inevitably, Gabby ended up needing a custom wand created for her. As soon as it was Harry's turn to find a wand suitable for him, the owner Monsieur Acajor widened his eyes in surprise when Harry approached the counter.

"Ah, Seigneur Potter," said Monsieur Acajor, politely bowing as he spotted Harry's family ring on his finger. "Such an honour this is!"

It had taken Harry some time to find a wand best suited for him. After the fifth try, Monsieur Acajor brought out a box that was dark blue in colour. The wand that resided in the box was made of vine wood and a foot long. Monsieur Acajor opened the box, pulled the wand out and handed it to Harry. Once he grabbed ahold of the handle, Harry could feel a flow or warmth throughout his body, which meant that the wand chose him.

"The core for that wand is a sliver of bone that came from the skull of a Hungarian Horntail," Monsieur Acajor revealed. "The fiercest dragon in the wizarding world. There aren't very many who can wield a wand with that particular core, Seigneur Potter."

Harry was surprised by the revelation of his wand's core. After getting his wand paid for, Harry and company headed off to Gringotts, so Harry could find a ring for Gabby in his family vault. While it was true they would have to go to the London chain of Gringotts through the transportation room, it wasn't anything they couldn't handle. It was a few minutes after walking into Gringotts when Albus Dumbledore finally arrived in Place Cachee, still attempting to locate Harry. The Hogwarts headmaster found a shop called K. Rammelle's Enchantee (as shown on a sign above the front entrance), a sweet shop.

'I wonder if they carry lemon drops here.' thought Dumbledore. 'I can look for some while I'm here.'

While part of that was true, Dumbledore believed that Harry would come to the shop if he came (or came back) to Place Cachee. After all, children were bound to do anything for candy or sweets, right? While pondering his thoughts, Dumbledore was wondering if he should inform the Dursleys or Molly, Ron and Ginny once Harry was found. Ultimately, Dumbledore decided on informing the Weasleys first, that way Harry could be put back under control and continue preparing for the Greater Good.

Meanwhile, Harry and company made it to Gringotts London. As one of the goblins started escorting the group through the lobby, they were (without their knowledge) spotted by Molly, Ron and Ginny as they walked through the entrance. The three Weasleys were really suspicious to see the boy with untidy raven coloured hair, the man with long, shaggy black hair, and the man with scars and brown hair turning gray. They couldn't follow them since that would've resulted in the three Weasleys getting thrown out of Gringotts for suspicious behaviour. So they continued on with their business at Gringotts, with Molly deciding to alert Albus once they were back at the Burrow. When Harry and company arrived at the Potter family vault, Harry entered the vault. Gabby was now cleared to enter (since she was now the future Lady Potter). Gabby came across one ring that had sapphires embedded in it, which sparkled a little.

"Harry, I like this particular ring." said Gabby, pointing to it.

"Try it on, Gabby." said Harry in an encouraging voice.

So Gabby picked up the ring and tried it on. It fit perfectly over her finger. Gabby smiled as she admired the ring on her finger and showed it to Harry.

"It looks good on you, Gabby!" said Harry happily, looking at the ring on his betroth's finger.

"Thank you, Harry!" said Gabby with excitement.

Then they left the vault, with Gabby showing everyone the ring. Even they admired it, especially with the sapphire embedded into the ring. Then they all got back into the cart to return to the lobby and back over to the transportation room. As they passed through the lobby again, the three Weasleys happened to spot them again (again, without their knowledge). Molly, Ron and Ginny realized that they saw Harry after all, along with Remus and Sirius. Again they couldn't follow, not wanting to risk showing suspicious behaviour. Back in K. Rammelle's sweet shop in Place Cachee, Albus continued 'looking for lemon drops,' much to the manager's discomfort.

"Albus, we don't have all day in here to be watching you suspiciously," said the manager sternly, with his arms crossed. "Unless you want me to call the auras, I suggest you finish up your business here and get out!"

Albus sighed in defeat and left the shop, knowing that getting arrested before term started wouldn't do him any good. So the Hogwarts headmaster went over to the Griffon Buveur (the french wizarding bar) for a drink, unaware that Xander Scamander happened to be there at that moment.

'What is Albus doing here?' thought Xander suspiciously, when he spotted the ole coot walking in through the front entrance. 'If he's still after Harry for that Greater Good malarkey of his, he's gonna be answering to me!'

Meanwhile, Harry and company arrived at Maison Capenoir's clothing shop to get Harry, Gabby and Kassandra fitted for their school uniforms. Harry and Gabby would be given special kinds of uniforms (as per tradition of betrothed couples who were students in magical school) to let the Beauxbatons students know that Harry and Gabby were Lord and Lady Potter respectively, and once they showed their respective rings to Dame Capenoir to prove it, she gave the betrothed couple a polite bow.

"Gabby should get fitted first," said Harry adamantly. "I go by a strict ladies first policy!"

"Of course, Seigneur Potter," said Dame Capenoir in understanding. "Once the future Dame Potter is finished, it's also a tradition for betrothed couples to get the first look of their other half in their uniforms."

Harry nodded his head to show he understood. Then Gabby was escorted into a back room while Harry waited outside with the rest. Kassandra was also taken to another back room, so she could get fitted for her Beauxbatons uniform. Once he was finished his drink at Griffon Buveur, Albus resumed searching the shopping district to find Harry and bring him back to his 'home.'

'Maybe there's a possibility I can also find out where Harry's been living,' thought Albus. 'Wherever Harry is currently living, Sirius is bound to be there, too.'

Back at Maison Capenoir's, Harry and company were still waiting in the lobby. Kassandra was finished with getting fitted for her school uniform while Gabby was still preoccupied. After another five minutes, Harry was called to the back room where Gabby was. Harry felt his jaw drop open when he got a look at his betrothed in her Lady Potter uniform.

'How did Gabby pick out the right kind of uniform?' thought Harry in amazement.

After getting a good look at Gabby in her Lady Potter uniform, Harry allowed the others to get a look themselves. Now it was time for Harry to get fitted for his Lord Potter uniform, so Gabby went to wait in the lobby with her family and the others accompanying them. It took Harry almost as long to get fitted for his uniform (but not as long as Gabby). Once he was satisfied with his choice of his Lord Potter uniform, Harry gave the signal to Dame Capenoir to let Gabby know that he was finished. Gabby even felt her jaw drop open in surprise when she saw Harry in his uniform.

'Is it me, or did my betrothed pick out the right kind of uniform?!' thought Gabby, utterly surprised.

Once permission was granted, the rest of the group came to get a look at Harry. Even they couldn't help but admire Harry in his Lord Potter uniform. Harry's and Gabby's respective uniforms came in five sets (which Harry opted to pay for, as a way of returning the favour for the Delacours looking after him in his time of need). The next stop they all decided was over to Monsieur Sanfan Chaudrons (the cauldron shop), so Harry, Gabby and Kassandra could purchased a cauldron required for potions. Fleur and Kassidy already had a cauldron for potions, since they were starting their fourth year. After leaving the cauldron shop, the next shop was Dr. Aziz Branchiflore, which happened to be an apothecary. The shop had all sorts of potions ingredients, the highest quality ingredients from the looks of them. Dumbledore happened to be in the shop at that moment and thought it was a gold mine when he spotted Harry, Sirius and Remus with the Delacours and another family who the Hogwarts headmaster didn't recognize. None of them realized that they had been spotted by somebody they didn't want to see at all.

'It looks like Harry, Sirius and Remus have been staying with the Delacours,' thought Dumbledore with delight. 'I'd better wait until they leave before I apparate back to my office, so they won't suspect a thing. I'll inform Molly, Ronald and Ginevra before alerting the Dursleys of having finally spotted Harry. If the Dursleys agree, I'll apparate them to somewhere outside the wards surrounding Delacour Manor. Then they can warn the Delacours to give Harry up or risk ruining the plans set up for the Greater Good.'

Once Harry and company paid for the potions ingredients and left the shop, Dumbledore also left after a couple minutes of waiting and went to find an alley to apparate away. The rest of the shopping trip passed by uneventfully. Harry, Gabby, Fleur, Kassidy and Kassandra also purchased school books, parchment, quills and ink bottles. Once they were all finished, they decided to have some lunch at the Cafe Abringer before returning to Delacour Manor (or Kraymor Cottage for the Kraymor family). After they finished lunch, the Kraymors bade goodbye before leaving for home. Then Harry, Sirius, Remus and the Delacours all side apparated back to outside the wards of Delacour Manor and went inside to enjoy the rest of the day.

Back at Hogwarts, Albus was getting ready to talk with Molly, Ron and Ginny in his office. The three Weasleys had just arrived by floo travel and sat down in seats in front of Dumbledore's desk. A phoenix sitting on it's perch and a dusty old hat on it's rack were looking at the four manipulative magical beings before them, in disgust.

"Well," Albus began relaying information. "Harry has been found finally. He, Sirius and Remus have been living with the Delacour family somewhere around Paris. He was more than likely shopping for supplies to go to Beauxbatons, even though his name has been down to attend Hogwarts."

"Ooh, I wanna go there instead of Hogwarts," said Ginny ecstatically. "I can help de-corrupt Harry that way if I'm around him instead of sending him letters!"

"You will, Ginny," assured Molly. "It'll take another year for that, but we'll do anything possible to make sure you go to Beauxbatons."

"What about me, mum?" asked Ron. "Is it too late for me to go there?"

"We may need to wait, Ron," said Molly. "We can't let Harry know that we'll transfer there next year. (Then she turned to face the headmaster) But what will we do in the meantime, Albus?"

"Well, I must inform Harry's family," said Dumbledore. "Harry must be prepared for his destiny and if you three rescue him from the corrupting influence of the Delacours, he'll be so grateful to you for that."

"We did spot Harry at Gringotts earlier today, twice in fact," Molly revealed to Albus. "We had no idea what he was doing there, but we couldn't follow him because it would've stirred up unwanted attention."

"He must've been going down to his family vault," Albus deduced. "Harry wasn't supposed to find out about his inheritance. Maybe we missed something, even though I was sure the plan was failproof."

"It may have happened during your ICW business trip," said Molly. "Even if Harry didn't realize that, he must be safe if he's away from those peoples' corrupting influence."

"Yes," agreed Albus. "I'll get that taken care of tomorrow morning."

"Okay," said Molly. Then she turned toward Ron and Ginny. "We'd better head home for lunch. I'll bet you're hungry."

"We are hungry, mum!" Ron and Ginny chorused.

"Take care, you three." said Albus.

So Molly, Ron and Ginny left the office through the floo network and back to the Burrow. Then Dumbledore began pondering his thoughts on how he was going to get Harry back under control. Surely, Harry must be clueless and befriend Molly, Ron and Ginny, that was all necessary (or so, Albus thought). If Harry were to refuse transfering to Hogwarts, there was always the chance to have Ron and Ginny go to Beauxbatons, even if meant Ron would have to spend his first year (or at least half of it) here at Hogwarts. Either way, Harry still needed to befriend Ron and Ginny while having Molly as a motherly figure. Ginny wanted to eventually marry Harry and Albus even assured her that it would happen. Of course, Albus had no idea that Harry was already betrothed and that he found out that the marriage contract was void. The Hogwarts headmaster also didn't realize that the Delacours weren't going to give Harry up, even with Sirius and Remus close by. Albus also had no knowledge that somebody was also making sure neither he nor the Dursleys could get anywhere near Harry. To make it harder for Albus, the staff and governors of Beauxbatons were also taking their precautions to ensure that the Hogwarts headmaster couldn't approach the school campus, nor the wards around the school.

 _To be continued!_

 **Author's note: I'd like to give a shoutout to '5UP3RN0V32015' for suggesting that Dumbledore track Harry down secretly and find out where he'd been staying.**

 **Also a shoutout to 'rb2312' for suggesting that Ginny try begging Molly to allow her to go to Beauxbatons once she's eligible to begin her magical education.**


	10. Chapter 10

_Disclaimer: As usual, all I own is this fanfic and OCs Kassidy and Kassandra. The OC Xander Scamander belongs to 5UP3RN0V42015. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling, no copyright intended!_

 **Chapter 10: Is Insistence The Key?**

A few more days had past. Harry and company (minus Antonio) went back to Place Cachee and over to Cosme Acajor's wand shop. Gabby needed to pick up her custom made wand. Meanwhile Molly, Ron and Ginny walked up to the front entrance of Beauxbatons and over to Madame Maxime's office in an attempt to get Ron transferred before the school year began and to get Ginny registered for the next year. Albus initially wanted to bring Harry back as soon as he spotted him, but then figured that waiting a few days would've had everything cooled down. Once he felt certain of it, he gave Molly the word so she could side apparate herself, Ron and Ginny to outside the wards surrounding Beauxbatons. Once they made it to the door leading to Madame Maxime's office, Molly knocked on the door.

"Come in!" called the headmistress from the other side.

So the three Weasleys walked in and as soon as that happened, they received a nasty glare from Madame Maxime. Molly was acting all overconfident as they approached the desk, while Ron and Ginny put on false friendly smiles.

"What are you three doing here?" asked Madame Maxime coldly.

"A couple things," said Molly. "To get Ron transferred over here before this school year starts and to register Ginny for the 1992-1993 school year."

"Not in your lives," snarled the Beauxbatons headmistress. "We teachers and staff here know why you're here, now I suggest you three leave campus before you make this worse!"

"But my Harry will be starting here this year," said Ginny, giving Madame Maxime puppy dog eyes. "He needs me and I need him!"

"That look won't work with me," stated the headmistress, giving Ginny an exasperated look. Then she turned her attention back to Molly. "Amelia sent me a letter to be suspicious of you three and Albus Dumbly-dore!"

She showed the letter to the three Weasleys to prove it. This didn't change their minds and Molly also tried the same tactic as Ginny did a minute ago.

"Harry also needs me to be his best mate," said Ron with desperation in his voice. "You gotta have me transferred here!"

"Now listen here, biggie," snapped Molly, pointing a finger in Madame Maxime's face. "Ron is supposed to be best friends with Harry, while Harry is supposed to be Ginny's boyfriend, so they can eventually marry. I don't appreciate you trying to interfere with that and Albus wouldn't like it if his plans are ruined. Now I insist that you allow Ron to attend this school and for Ginny to do the same next year _right_ now, unless you want me to call for some aurors to have you hauled into a ministry holding cell!"

Molly realized too late that threatening a giant was a grave error. The nine-foot giantess stood up and onto her full height and flashed the three Weasleys a paralyzing glare. This made Molly (who was only 5'3") cower in utter fear, but Madame Maxime felt zero sympathy. Ron and Ginny were also utterly terrified when they were facing the headmistress' wrath.

"Your requests have been rejected and will continue if it keeps up," shouted Madame Maxime. "These children are permanently banned from ever attending this school, now out you go!"

"Maybe we can work something out!" said Molly, still terrified.

"Yes, perhaps something can work out!" said Madame Maxime slyly. "Head down to the Great Hall and I'll meet you down there. Then we can talk this over."

"We'll do it!" said Molly, Ron and Ginny ecstatically.

So they turned around and left the headmistress' office. Molly, Ron and Ginny had no idea that Madame Maxime was playing a trick on them. As soon as the three Weasleys were out of the office, the headmistress alerted the other teachers and staff of what was going on. This was working out in her favour because the three Weasleys had no idea where in the school the Great Hall was located. Anytime Molly asked for directions to the Great Hall, the teachers and staff would just simply point them in the right direction. Once the three Weasleys made it to the Great Hall, the doors closed. This made Molly, Ron and Ginny look all around the Great Hall, trying to find whoever closed the doors. Then Madame Maxime and several of the teachers and staff cancelled the disillusionment charms they placed on themselves after walking in. When the three Weasleys saw for themselves, they gulped again when they caught the nasty glare they received from the headmistress.

"Did you really think I'd let you three off the hook?!" asked Madame Maxime with a sneer. "Now, I suggest you three leave campus immediately before I call the auras!"

She pointed to the doors behind her with her thumb. So Molly, Ron and Ginny had little choice but to leave. Nevertheless, they knew Dumbledore still had some other plans just in case some of the other ones failed. Once they were outside the wards of Beauxbatons, Molly and her two youngest children walked over to where Dumbledore was hiding.

"It didn't work, did it?" asked the Hogwarts headmaster once he caught the looks of despair on their faces.

"No, it didn't," said Molly. "What will we do now?"

"I've got someone wandering around in Place Cachee," stated Dumbledore. "He assured me that he would bring Harry over to your house once he's found."

"So there is hope, yet!" said Ginny ecstatically.

"Yes," stated Dumbledore. Then he turned his attention back to Molly. "So why don't you three go back home and wait for Harry to arrive there."

"Will do." said Molly obediently.

So she side apparated Ron, Ginny and herself back to outside the wards of the Burrow. Meanwhile, Harry and company were just leaving Cosme Acajor's, with Gabby admiring her wand. Harry, Gabby and Fleur decided to go to K. Rammelle's Enchantee to look at all the different kind of sweets they had, while the adults went over to the Griffon Buveur. Kassidy and Kassandra happened to be at K. Rammelle's too, surprising Harry, Gabby and Fleur. Kassidy mentioned that she and Kassandra had been accompanying their mother in the shopping district. What Harry, Gabby and Fleur didn't know was that a wizard with long, greasy black hair, a hooked nose and black eyes was secretly following them into the sweet shop (though, he was pretending to be a normal customer). The man grinned smugly as he watched Harry and his friends walk upstairs to the second floor. Once the five had their backs turned, the man seized his chance by stealthily walking up behind Harry and putting a hand over his mouth.

"HE…" Harry attempted to scream out, but the man behind him was too quick.

"You're coming with me, you brat!" growled the man.

"LET HARRY GO!" Gabby shouted at the man.

He ignored Gabby as he tried dragging Harry (who was putting up a fight) with him. Gabby's shouting inevitably attracted attention (since there were some other customers on the second floor). Gabby, Fleur, Kassidy and Kassandra drew their wands out and pointed them at the man (who was still trying to drag Harry away with him). The man was shocked to see the four girls before him pointing their wands at him, allowing Harry the chance to escape by biting the man's right hand.

"Yeow!" said the man as he started wincing in pain (shaking his bitten hand in the process).

"Ha!" said Harry triumphantly.

This was short lived because the man was able to recover in time. He sent a tripping spell at Harry, stunning him in the process. The girls tried coming to Harry's rescue, but the man was too quick and he put a chloroform rag over Harry's face. This knocked Harry out cold, much to the girls' shock (especially Gabby). Once the man grabbed ahold of the out-cold Harry, he vanished before the girls' very eyes. Gabby felt tears welling up in her eyes as she watched Harry being taken away before her. Fleur knew Gabby was on the verge of becoming heartbroken to have seen that her betrothed had been kidnapped, so she tried to comfort her sister as much as she could.

"Where did that ma-an take Harry?" sobbed Gabby heavily into Fleur's shoulders.

"I wish I knew," said Fleur downheartedly. "That man never indicated where he was taking Harry! But we'll get Harry back, don't you worry, Gabby!"

"I ju-ust don't w-w-w-wanna thi-ink of the what the worst wo-ould or co-ould b-beeeeee!" Gabby continued sobbing.

Kassandra took over comforting Gabby once they were downstairs, while Fleur and Kassidy approached the check-out counter to tell the manager what all happened. The girls were relieved to find out that there were witnesses who also saw Harry kidnapped, but Gabby was still distraught. At that moment, Sirius, Remus, Apolline and Karen had left Griffon Buveur to meet up with Harry, Gabby, Fleur, Kassidy and Kassandra. The adults developed worried looks on their faces when they saw the girls walking out of the sweet shop equally worried (with Gabby still distraught).

"What happened?" asked Apolline with concern in her voice.

"Harry had been kidnapped!" said Fleur with worrisome in her voice.

"What did the kidnapper look like?" asked Remus.

"He had long, greasy black hair," stated Fleur, trying to keep calm. "A hooked nose and black eyes. He was also wearing black robes!"

"That had to have been Snivellus!" Sirius deduced with pure anger in his voice.

"Snivellus?!" said Apolline, confused.

"Severus Snape," stated Sirius. "The current potions teacher at Hogwarts. Dumbledore had to have spoken up for him because Snivellus never had to stand trial, in spite of having been a death eater in the past. And yet, the ole coot didn't speak up in my defence even though I was never a death eater. He basically allowed me to receive the kangaroo court treatment!"

"But there were some witnesses who saw that Snape guy kidnapping Harry," Kassidy revealed. "They were telling the manager at the sweet shop what all happened."

"Antonio and Kurt must be notified of this as soon as possible," said Karen. "That way we can get missing posters of Harry and wanted posters of this Snape guy."

Apolline nodded her head in agreement (as did Remus and Sirius). Remus sent a patronus over to Antonio to alert him on what all happened. Apolline was trying to get her youngest daughter calmed down, with mixed results (Gabby was still just that upset). So they all headed over to Delacour Manor, not wanting to any unwanted attention.

Meanwhile, Harry was just starting to come to. He opened his eyes a little bit and saw that he wasn't in K. Rammelle's Enchantee (or any shop in Place Cachee). It looked like he was in a small living room, which was confirmed his eyes were fully open. Harry sat up and saw that he had been laying on a couch while he was still out-cold. As he darted his eyes around the living room, Harry saw that there was no doorway between the kitchen and living room.

'Where am I?' thought Harry desperately. 'This house…'

Harry was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard some footsteps making their way into the living room. He smoothly turned his attention to the direction where the feet were. Harry saw that they belonged to three redheads and one of them was a woman in a housedress (who Harry figured was the mother, since the other two redheads must be the children). They stopped by the couch Harry was laying on to check on him, or so it seemed.

"Hello, Harry dear, I'm Molly Weasley," the woman introduced herself, smiling at him. "I've heard about your little mishap, so I thought that looking after you until further notice wouldn't hurt."

"I'm Ron Weasley," said the boy with excitement. "I can't wait to be best mates with you!"

"I'm Ginny Weasley," said the girl, who sounded and looked to be over the moon. "And I can't wait to be yours for eternity!"

'Wh-What is going on here?" asked Harry sternly. "How did I get here?"

"Well, you were the victim of kidnapping, dear," said Molly, using a cover story. "So Albus took the pleasure to send someone out to fetch you and bring you here. Once he gets the time, he'll help escort you back to your family."

"But he'll find himself in a trap if he did that," stated Harry. "The french ministry will…"

"No no, I wasn't referring to those kidnappers," said Molly. "Your relatives in Surrey."

"They're aren't family to me," stated Harry. "So how would sending me back there be necessary?"

"Sorry, dear," said Molly, sounding anything but. "Privileged information. Why don't you take some time to get to know Ron and Ginny before lunch."

Harry didn't know how to respond to that. But then he figured playing along with it would help throw them off track. So Ron and Ginny showed Harry the way to their orchard. There they came across two more redheads (who appeared to be twins) flying on broomsticks.

"Fred! George!" shouted Ron and Ginny in unison. "Come meet our new friend, Harry Potter!"

This definitely got the twins attention, since they immediately flew down to the ground. Believing this to be another trap, Harry got all tense and wanted so badly to run off. But the problem was, his body didn't seem to want to cooperate with him.

"Hello Harry," said the twins in what seemed be twin talk. "We're Fred and George! Our parents often mistake us for the other one, so we nicknamed ourselves Gred and Forge!"

"Um, hi." said Harry, not knowing how to respond properly.

"Mum wants us all to take turns keeping Harry company," said Ron. "He gets separation anxiety _real_ easily."

Harry gave Ron a confused look, wondering what all he was trying to do. The twins seemed to be seeing through the ruse, or at least that was what it looked like to Harry. If that was the case, then Ron and Ginny appeared to be oblivious to the whole thing.

"So we'll give you two a chance," said Ginny. "But no tricks or you'll spook him."

Fred and George nodded their heads in understanding, then Ron and Ginny walked back inside to see how much longer it would be until lunch would be ready. Once it was just them, Fred and George approached Harry and gave him friendly smiles.

"We may be pranksters, Harry…" said Fred (or George).

"But we would actually like to be friends…" said George (or Fred).

"With you! The Boy-Who-Lived and the real you…" said Fred (or George).

"Are two different people, something our dad…" said George (or Fred).

"Taught us, but Ronald, Ginevra and our mum deliberately ignore that." Fred and George finished their twin talk.

Harry smiled when he saw that the twins had some potential to be his friend. After all, Harry knew that genuine friends were more important than having too many with some who may be trying to trick him in secret. Then either Fred or George pulled something out of their pocket and handed it to Harry, which happened to be his wand, much to Harry's relief.

"Where did you find this?" asked Harry.

"Somewhere over by the front door…" said Fred (or George).

"We figured it must've fallen out…" said George (or Fred).

"When Snape brought you here…" said Fred (or George).

"Or when Ickle Ronnykins and/or Ickle Ginnykins…" said George (or Fred).

"Were helping mum with moving you onto the couch…" said Fred (or George).

"And they attempted to throw you off track…" said George (or Fred).

"By trying to hide your wand from you." the twins finished their twin talk.

"I see," said Harry in understanding. Then he spotted Ron and Ginny over by the front door, making him suspicious. "Are they looking for my wand so they can give it to your mother?"

"I don't know, Harry…" said Fred (or George).

"But we have a way of eavesdropping in on them." said George (or Fred).

The twins pulled out something that looked like someone's ears attached to strings. This baffled Harry because the ears looked pretty realistic. The twins explained to Harry that they were extendable ears, one of their inventions. They even explained the purpose of the ears was to eavesdrop in on a conversation. So Harry, Fred and George stealthily found a hiding spot near the front door to listen in on Ron and Ginny (since the ears wouldn't work, at least all that well at further distances).

"What happened to Harry's wand?" Ginny's voice was heard through the extendable ears. "I know I left it right here! If I gave it back to him personally, I figured he'd be happy that I did something nice for him."

"I have no idea where it went," said Ron. "Nobody besides ourselves and mum was supposed to know of this. We'd better find it, or else Harry will get to it and leave England again."

"Right!" said Ginny in agreement.

Once she and Ron went back inside to inform their mother, Harry and the twins started sneaking away back to the orchard. Then the twins asked Harry to follow them, with Harry nodding his head in agreement.

"We know a family who will help you, Harry," said the twins, responding in their twin talk. "They don't live too far from us, even within walking distance as long as we don't follow roads."

Harry nodded his head in agreement again as he and the twins began walking through some trees. The three were giggling some at the thought of Ron and Ginny finding them gone. Harry saw where the twins had been leading him. There was a black, cylindrical building that sort of resembled a watchtower seen around castles out in the distance.

'That must be an office building of some sort,' thought Harry. 'If that's what it is, I wonder which kind!'

But Harry had no idea that it was actually someone's home. Either way, Harry figured that the more help he received, the better the chance he had of returning to Delacour Manor. While he wasn't close to her, Harry knew that Gabby was worried sick for him by now (since she enjoyed his company). If Harry wanted to reunite with Gabby, he needed to ask for some assistance from somebody willing to help him out.

 _To be continued!_


	11. Chapter 11

_Disclaimer: As usual, all I own is this fanfic and OCs Kassidy and Kassandra. The OC Xander Scamander belongs to 5UP3RN0V32105. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling, no copyright intended!_

 **Chapter 11: Help From The Lovegoods**

Back at Delacour Manor, Antonio and Kurt arrived back to help their respective families, Sirius and Remus in coming up with a plan to get Harry back. Hector came over once he was notified and he had a flash of anger in his brown eyes, as he remembered trying to make it clear to Albus not to interfere with Harry's life, not even indirectly. Gabby was still distraught and she continued sobbing into her mother's shoulders.

"So you know what Harry's kidnapper looks like, Sirius?" asked Hector.

"Positive!" assured Sirius in a worried voice. "I went to Hogwarts with Severus Snape, as did Remus. So we know exactly that he was the one who kidnapped Harry. Neither Remus or I need to look at him to figure it out, since Fleur gave us the description and that allowed me to figure the rest out for myself!"

"Will Ha-arry be okaaayyyyy?" Gabby tearfully responded.

"We all hope so, sweetie." said Apolline, equally upset.

"If Harry gets placed with those nasty relatives of his again," said Fleur. "He can just curse them without any mercy, since he _is_ the head of House Potter and exempt from that restriction."

"Really?" Gabby asked with a sniffle.

"I feel certain that Harry will be back in one piece," Fleur assured her sister. "He'll be bound to put up one heck of a fight to avoid going back to those people and/or forced to do Dumbledore's bidding."

And Fleur _was_ correct (even though she didn't realize it yet) because at that moment, Harry, Fred and George made it to the front door of the black cylindrical building. One of the twins knocked on the door and a minute later, a girl with dirty-blonde hair and pale-silvery eyes answered the door.

"Hello Fred, hello George," greeted the girl serenely, giving the twins a smile. "How are you?"

"Neutral at the moment, Luna" the twins told the girl named Luna with urgency in their voices. "Can we speak with your father if he has the time?"

"Yes," said the girl named Luna. "Why don't you and your friend come in and I'll go get daddy!"

"Alright!" chorused Harry, Fred and George.

So they walked inside, with Luna showing them over to the living room. She turned her attention to Harry and (after spotting the Potter family ring on his finger) gave him a smile.

"Hello, Harry Potter," said Luna, holding a hand out. "I'm Luna Lovegood."

"Nice to meet you, Luna." said Harry as he shook her hand.

"I'll go get daddy, we'll be back down her in a minute." said Luna just as she walked upstairs while Harry, Fred and George nodded their heads.

A minute or so later, Luna climbed back downstairs with a man with shoulder-length white hair and the same eye colour as Luna's. Then the man greeted Fred and George in a friendly manner, then he gave Harry a smile and held a hand out.

"Hello, Harry," said the man. "I'm Luna's father Xenophilius, or Xeno for short!"

"Nice to meet you, Xeno!" said Harry as he shook hands with him.

"What may I do for you, Fred and George?" asked Xenophilius curiously.

"I need to know where the ministry is," said Harry urgently. "Fred and George told me that you and Luna could help me out!"

"Yes, we'd be happy to help you, Harry." assured Xenophilius. "But if you don't mind me asking, where have you been living? The Daily Prophet claims that you were kidnapped!"

"Yes, but not by the people it claims," said Harry. "The one who directly kidnapped me was a man with long, greasy black hair, black eyes and black robes."

"Severus Snape helped to kidnap you?" asked Xenophilius, outraged.

"Positive," stated Harry. "Though I never knew that was his name."

"Our mother also helped kidnap Harry indirectly, so did Ickle Ronnykins and Ickle Ginnykins!" Fred and George chorused. "Otherwise, Harry wouldn't have been in our living room."

"But Dumbledore was the mastermind behind that kidnapping scheme," said Harry. "It had to have been him because I spent almost my whole life with my abusive relatives. It's like Dumbledore wants to keep me under his control. Since around mid June, I've been living with the Delacours in France and Lord Antonio works for the french ministry and a co-worker of his informed us of Dumbledore's motives when the ole coot was in France for the last week of the ICW conference."

"We'd better get you to our ministry, Harry," stated Xenophilius. "Amelia Bones will be able to help you out, she's the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

"I already know that," Harry informed Xenophilius. "I met her and her niece, Susan not too long ago."

"Oh, okay," said Xenophilius with realization. "We'd better inform Amelia as soon as possible."

So Xenophilius tossed some floo powder into the fireplace called for Amelia's office at the ministry. Amelia's head appeared in the fire a minute later.

"Oh, Xenophilius," said Amelia with realization. "Can I help you?"

"Harry Potter is over at my house with Fred and George," Xenophilius informed the head of the DMLE. "Is it alright if we report to your office?"

"Yes, it sounds like something awful just happened," said Amelia, realizing that Xenophilius' voice sounded anxious. "So do come to my office."

Luna went through the fire first, followed by Harry, the twins and then Xenophilius. Upon spotting Fred and George coming through the fire, Amelia called for Arthur to come to her office. A minute or so later, a knock at the door was heard. After Amelia called for the person to come in, Harry saw that the person walking in had the same hair colour as Fred and George (who they recognized as their father). After Amelia, Xenophilius, Fred and George took turns explaining the situation, the twins' father turned his attention to Harry.

"Hello Harry," said the man, holding a hand out. "I'm Arthur Weasley!"

"Nice to meet you, Arthur!" said Harry as he shook Arthur's hand.

"I do apologize for what my wife, daughter and youngest son have been doing," said Arthur sincerely. "I was getting suspicious of their behaviour, but now I realize what's been going on. Please don't declare a blood feud on the whole family!"

"Don't worry, Arthur," assured Harry. "I won't do that! It wouldn't be fair to make you, Fred and George suffer. It's just those three who'll be suffering the consequences."

"Thank you, Harry!" said Arthur with relief in his voice. "Molly, Ronald and Ginevra will be answering to me when I get home tonight. I never expected them to have played an indirect role in kidnapping you."

Back at the Burrow, Molly, Ron and Ginny continued searching for Harry. They couldn't understand how Harry managed to escape from their clutches. Seeing that Fred and George were also gone, the three manipulative Weasleys came to the conclusion that the twins must've had a role in Harry's escape. Ron and Ginny were outside, wandering around the property trying to locate Harry, to no avail.

"First his wand disappeared," Ginny ranted. "And now Harry himself is gone! Why couldn't he just understand that we're just trying to help him?!"

"Yeah, he was supposed to be clueless," Ron ranted in agreement. "Dumbledore said so! He just let those people corrupt him. If he doesn't see our efforts soon, he'll be beyond redemption."

"Mum isn't pleased with Fred and George for interfering," said Ginny. "She's now regretting giving them a chance to get to know Harry. They never listen to mum's warnings about anything, and this one is pretty much the final straw."

"Harry is out there somewhere," said Ron in a matter-of-fact voice. "He can't be too far away! I don't think anybody else will wanna help him anyway, as Dumbledore warned them not to interfere with the Greater Good in any way."

So Ron and Ginny continued searching for Harry around their house. Neither they nor their mother had any idea of what else was coming to them. In fact, Dumbledore and Severus were also going to find themselves in more hot water. That was because Amelia decided to also put up wanted posters of the three manipulative wizards and witch around the wizarding district, Diagon Alley. This also meant that Ron and Ginny (without their knowledge) were at risk for being put into an orphanage because Arthur decided to sign some paperwork that would allow him to disown them as punishment for their part in the treachery (and file for divorce from Molly for the same reasons), much to Fred and George's delight. Before getting the wanted posters taken care of, Amelia threw some floo powder into the fireplace to fire call Antonio in his office at the french ministry.

"Antonio!" Amelia called.

"Huh… who?" Antonio was heard responding and looking around his office. Then he saw it was coming from his office fireplace and saw Amelia. "Oh, Amelia, it's you! Did anybody find Harry yet?"

"Yes, he's here in my office," Amelia informed. "After giving me the description of the one who directly kidnapped him, I realized that Severus Snape was the culprit."

"Yes, Sirius immediately knew who it was once he was also told," stated Antonio. "Perhaps the wanted posters in London should also have an extradition order, since Severus was in Place Cachee when he kidnapped Harry."

"Of course," said Amelia in agreement. "Harry revealed that he had been taken to the Weasleys' home called the Burrow and that Molly and her two youngest children tried to act like Harry had been corrupted. Arthur isn't pleased with that and he'll deal with them later."

"I see," said Antonio. "Who else was helping Harry?"

"Arthur's twin sons, Fred and George," said Amelia. "And so was Xenophilius Lovegood and his daughter, Luna."

"Wow," said Antonio in amazement. "No wonder Harry was able to escape so fast! What will become of Molly? She had to have played an indirect role if Harry been taken to the Weasleys' house."

"Wanted posters featuring her will be created," said Amelia. "And some for Dumbledore as well."

"I see," said Antonio. "Since he was pretty much the mastermind. If we don't get Albus behind bars, then he'll try to come up with more desperate plans!"

Once the discussion was finished, Harry said goodbye to Arthur, Fred, George, Amelia, Xenophilius and Luna, and thanked them for helping him out. Then Harry went through the fire and over to Antonio's office at the french ministry. Before returning to work himself, Arthur had to find a friend to look after Fred and George (knowing that returning them to the Burrow would've been a bad idea). Xenophilius and Luna returned to their house, with Luna opting to keep watch of anyone suspicious from her bedroom window, to ensure neither Molly, Ron and/or Ginny would try any tricks to compel them to reveal Harry's whereabouts.

Meanwhile, Albus was in his office at Hogwarts. He was stumped because he had finished his fire call from Molly (who had informed him that Harry escaped). Severus was still mad because of Harry having bitten his hand.

"Harry must not be as clueless as I thought!" Albus concluded.

"Do you think so?" said Snape sarcastically. Then he resumed in an angry voice. "The brat bit me and that made it worse! I had to knock him out with chloroform!"

"We'll find him, Severus," assured Albus. "He can't be too far from the Burrow! Molly told me that she, Ronald and Ginevra are out there looking for him."

"He'd better be found quickly," said Snape hastily. "The brat was lucky he didn't get whacked in the head or something!"

(Scene break)

It was mid-afternoon and Harry had spent some time telling the french minister what all happened and who the direct kidnapper was. Antonio also told the minister what all Amelia told him. This meant that Severus Snape was in very deep trouble because he would not only face a sentencing in England, but in France as well (but his trial would be in France when and if he were caught and arrested, since he kidnapped Harry there). Now there were massive manhunts going on to capture Dumbledore and Snape since they could go anywhere. They ended up going to Snape's house at Spinner's End located in Cokeworth, though Albus and Severus were currently unaware of the manhunts trying to track them down. One for Molly wasn't needed because they could just hide around the Burrow (which was what some of the aurors were doing, since Molly, Ron and Ginny were currently out and about).

Once Harry was finished telling the french minister everything, he and Antonio returned to his office. Then Harry grabbed some floo powder, tossed it into the fireplace, called out his destination 'Delacour Manor,' and walked into the emerald-green flames. Once Harry stepped out of the fireplace at Delacour Manor, he was greeted with hugs from Remus, Sirius, Apolline, Fleur and most of all, Gabby. She practically ran up to Harry and engulfed him in one of her biggest hugs yet and a kiss on each cheek when she saw that Harry made it back in one piece. Harry also gave Gabby one of _his_ biggest hugs yet, followed by a kiss on each cheek.

"I'm here, Gabby," Harry whispered soothingly. "I'm back!"

"You didn't get hurt, did you?" asked Gabby worriedly.

"Nope," stated Harry. "Though it may have happened if I hadn't tried escaping when I did."

"Where did that Snape guy take you?" asked Gabby, as the others in the living room listened eagerly.

"To the Weasleys' house called the Burrow," said Harry. "Since Molly, Ron and Ginny were there. They tried to make it look like they were the rescuers and you all the kidnappers. But Ron and Ginny's twin brothers, Fred and George helped me out and we ran to a house whose residents were named Xenophilius and Luna Lovegood."

"Remus and I met the Lovegoods before," said Sirius. "They're nice people, but because Xeno works for the Quibbler, he and Luna are viewed as weird or strange by the majority of the wizarding world."

"I see," said Harry. "After I told Xeno and Luna what all happened, we went to Amelia's office at the London ministry. Once she was given the full scope, she decided to get wanted posters featuring Dumbledore, Snape and Molly created, so Ronald and Ginevra are bound to face getting placed in an orphanage since Arthur decided to get paperwork sign so he could disown them because of their part in helping to kidnap me."

"Not to mention that Snape will also get extradited here once he's caught," Antonio revealed. "That is if he ever shows himself out in public, but he and Dumbledore seem to be experts in finding hiding places."

"That's right, Antonio," stated Remus. "Dumbledore especially, since he always came up with hiding places for me during my Hogwarts days because of my condition."

"Maybe we should give Harry and Gabby some alone time." said Sirius when he saw that Gabby was still hugging Harry (and Harry hugging her back).

"Gabby and I can just go up to my room," said Harry. "We're not going to kick you all out of the living room."

"Alright," said Antonio and Apolline in unison. "But keep it appropriate, you two."

"Yes, maman," said Gabby obediently. "We'll be careful."

"Definitely." assured Harry.

So he and Gabby went upstairs to his room. Even though he was back in one piece, Gabby was still in tears a little bit, but they were happy tears this time. Once the betrothed couple walked into Harry's room, Gabby began laughing.

"What's so funny, Gabby?!" asked Harry curiously.

"Just the thought of seeing those three Weasleys' faces when they realized that you escaped," said Gabby, trying to keep her laughter in check. "It would be so priceless!"

"Yeah, it certainly would be," said Harry in agreement. "As much I would've liked to see it, waiting to do so would've been bad since it would've made it easier for my enemies to help me get back under Dumbledork's control."

"Yeah," said Gabby, shuddering at the thought. "If that happened, it would've scared me more."

So Harry and Gabby gave each other more hugs. Meanwhile, Molly, Ron and Ginny were heading back to the Burrow after their futile attempt to locate Harry. Upon making it back to the front door and walking inside, they saw Arthur, Fred and George in the living room with stern looks and their arms folded across their chests.

"Arthur, dear," said Molly in a stunned voice. "What're you…"

"I'm filing for divorce, Molly," snapped Arthur. "I can't believe you, Ronald and Ginevra played a part in kidnapping Harry!"

"That's right, Molly!" said the voice of Amelia Bones (who had been under a disillusionment charm, as were several aurors).

"Harry's been confunded," Molly claimed. "Dumbledore assured that…"

"Nice try," snapped Amelia. "Now, on the ground, Molly!"

Seeing several wands pointed at her, Molly knew she had no chance to escape. Reluctantly, she got down on the ground, then an auror with dark skin placed her in magic suppression handcuffs. Ron and Ginny were cowering when they spotted the glares they got from Fred, George and their father.

"Now Molly," Amelia began reciting the rights. "You don't have to say anything, as it may harm your defence in court. Anything you _do_ choose to say can be given in evidence!"

Then Molly was pulled up onto her feet and led out to be taken into custody. Once that was dealt with, Amelia turned her attention to Ron and Ginny.

"You two better come with me!" she instructed.

"What?! Why?" asked Ron and Ginny in unison.

"You're no longer welcome here," said Arthur firmly, showing the paperwork (which had been finalized) to Ron and Ginny. "Because of what you've been doing, you've been disowned and you two will be placed in an orphanage!"

Ron and Ginny had no choice, so they followed Amelia outside the wards of the Burrow, side apparated the two over to a wizarding orphanage and dropped them off, much to Ron's and Ginny's dismay. Ginny couldn't believe that she would have to wait for a whole year or so before she could go to Hogwarts. Although Ron was somewhat relieved that he'd be on the Hogwarts Express on September 1st, he was beginning to dread the summer holidays since it meant that he'd have to return to the orphanage. Nevertheless, they knew they were lucky that they avoided being incarcerated in the juvenile detention section at the ministry (even though they wouldn't openly admit it). Amelia knew that Albus and Severus were still out there somewhere, but tomorrow was when she decided to check Hogwarts for those two (since it was getting late). The head of the DMLE wasn't yet aware of the fact that Albus and Severus were at Spinner's End.

 _To be continued!_


	12. Chapter 12

_Disclaimer: If I've said it once before, I've said it more than that. All I own is this fanfic and OCs. The OC Xander Scamander belongs to 5UP3RN0V42015 (now 5UP3RN0V4). The rest belongs to J.K. Rowling, no copyright intended!_

 **Chapter 12: Xander's Unfortunate Mishap**

The next morning, Amelia and several aurors apparated to outside the wards of Hogwarts to look for Dumbledore and Snape. On their way to the headmaster's office, Amelia and the aurors accompanying her crossed paths with Professor McGonagall.

"Ah, Amelia, what may I do for you?" asked Minerva.

"I was wondering if you know where Albus and Severus may be." stated Amelia. "They're wanted for having kidnapped Harry. Severus especially will be facing extradition to the french ministry in Paris, since he kidnapped Harry there."

"You could try Severus' home at Spinner's End in Cokeworth." suggested Professor McGonagall. Then she asked with concern in her voice, "Is Harry alright?"

"Yes, he is," assured Amelia. "He had several people helping him return to Delacour Manor. Molly was arrested yesterday and taken into custody, with Ronald and Ginevra placed in an orphanage. Arthur signed some paperwork to allow that and he'll be filing for divorce from Molly. Arthur and his twin sons helped Harry out, and so did the Lovegoods."

"We'd better inform the governors as soon as possible," said Professor McGonagall in a matter-of-fact voice. "A new headmaster or headmistress and a new potions teacher will be needed. Since the next school year doesn't start for another three and a half weeks, we still have plenty of time to look."

Amelia and the other aurors nodded their heads in agreement, then they started reporting to the governors' office. There were twelve governors (including the chairman) at Hogwarts and they were stunned to see Minerva, Amelia and several aurors having made a sudden visit to their office. Once they were informed of what all Dumbledore and Snape had done, the board of governors declared them fired. Professor McGonagall was then asked to take up the position of becoming the new headmistress, which she accepted (with the deputy headmaster being Professor Filius Flitwick, who was also the charms teacher and head of Ravenclaw House). Wanted posters featuring Albus and Severus had been placed throughout the wizarding world (with the one's featuring Snape, it even included an extradition order for kidnapping Harry in front of enough eye witnesses at K. Rammelle's Sweet Shop).

Meanwhile, Harry and Antonio were in his office after the latter got a letter from Xander asking if he could speak with Harry, with Antonio telling Harry what all Xander mentioned. Xander even explained in the letter that his luck had run out for reasons that needed to be discussed in person. A few minutes after arriving in the office, the fireplace activated and a minute later, Xander stepped out and took a seat next to the Harry was sitting in.

"Hello, Harry," Xander greeted, holding a hand out. "I'm Xander Scamander, descendant of Theseus Scamander!"

"Nice to meet you, Xander!" Harry greeted back, shaking hands with Xander. "Is it true that you're trying to get my relatives in hot water?"

"Yes and no." said Xander sheepishly. "I have tried, but my plans for doing so didn't end well."

"I was told by Hector that you were fired." said Harry.

"I have no idea what exactly you were told, Harry," said Xander with a sigh, feeling ashamed on himself. "But… me having been fired was really a… cover up. What really happened was that… I resigned."

"Oh?" said Harry, baffled.

"Yes," said Xander sheepishly. "I was working undercover at your uncle's job at Grunnings, determined to look for you, like many in our world. Then one summer day I lost it all, this particular day was a bring-your-kid-to-work day. I saw that Vernon brought a then seven-year-old Dudley along. That day I was in a hurry to get some documents over to my boss at the Magical Congress of America that I didn't realize that I dropped one of the documents."

"What happened then?" asked Harry and Antonio in unison.

"Well, it seemed like Dudley got a hold of it," Xander deduced. "Because Vernon confronted me about it, then he showed me the document I dropped and he was… geez, it's just awful! Vernon's face was puce with pure anger. He even gave me a harsh rant about it and how Dudley found it out in the hallways. He even threatened to have me fired from Grunnings to keep it all quiet. But I resigned from the position before it could happen, but not before I warned Vernon that he hasn't seen the last of me. Then I informed my boss at the Magical Congress of America what happened. Your uncle also filed a restraining order against me, which also prompted me into resigning from my position there out of shame because I hadn't failed a mission before until that fateful day. The Magical Congress of America never heard from me since."

"When we found out about all this," stated Antonio. "We were told that your failure was a serious threat to our world and that it was the reason you were fired. We also had no idea that it was all a lie, but now we know the real truth."

"Since then, I've also been planning revenge against the Dursleys," said Xander. "Vernon especially. Petunia even called up one of the best lawyers affordable to ensure the restraining order would be put in effect. Dudley also stuck his tongue out at me when he saw his father 'fire' me on the spot. I'm not sure yet how I'll accomplish my revenge, but I do know it ought to be so good that Vernon won't see it coming."

Then Xander thanked Harry and Antonio for taking some time to hear his side of the story and left. Harry returned to Delacour Manor while Antonio had to return to work. Meanwhile, Ron and Ginny were in a secluded area of Diagon Alley, they had just finished a trip to Sugarplum's Sweet Shop. The two former Weasleys even took the risk of going down Knockturn Alley to find a store that stocked pre-made potions. They were happy to have gotten some money from Dumbledore around the time when Harry was discovered in Paris, and thus they were able to pay for a big box of chocolates at the sweet shop (believing Harry would do anything for sweets). Then at the store selling pre-made potions in Knockturn Alley, they also purchased some vials of Amortentia and some vials of loyalty potions (since their former dad likely found out about the secret lab their mum had and turned it into something else). Then Ginny proceeded to lace the chocolates with the Amortentia and loyalty potions, to try and get Harry on their side and see if he would drop the charges against their mother.

"This should be foolproof," said Ginny arrogantly. "This will help to get mum outta custody and allow us out of that wretched orphanage when she comes to pick us up."

"Yeah," agreed Ron. "It'll also help Harry realize who his real friends are."

Once they were finished, Ron and Ginny also purchased some wrapping paper and wrapped the box containing the chocolates. Then they started walking to the owl post office to get the chocolates mailed to Harry (making sure to make it look like it was from Ginny only). Once that was taken care of, they had no choice but to return to the orphanage (since they were required to be there for meal times, and it was almost lunchtime). After lunch was over, Ron and Ginny were called to the office where the head of the orphanage was and she was accompanied by Professor McGonagall and Amelia. Ron and Ginny sat down in chairs in front of the desk.

"Hello, professor!" Ron and Ginny greeted in unison. "Pleased to meet you!"

"I can't say the same!" said Professor McGonagall coolly. "Even though I was informed of what you two tried to do to Lord Potter, you'll still be allowed to attend Hogwarts under an orphan scholarship. But any form of suspicious plans regarding Lord Potter and you'll be expelled so fast, you won't believe it."

"What about Professor Dumbledore?" asked Ron.

"He's no longer the headmaster," stated Professor McGonagall. "I'm the headmistress now and I'll be meeting with the governors to enforce new and stricter rules to repair Hogwarts' reputation. Professor Flitwick will also be the deputy headmaster and he'll be helping to come up with ideas, and some of them he already thought of. I'll also be looking around for a new potions teacher since Snape is wanted for helping to kidnap Lord Potter. While you two were partly indirectly responsible, you'll still have a chance to attend Hogwarts."

"You two threaten my niece or any other scion or scioness of the seven most ancient and most noble houses in to helping you two in any way possible in any suspicious attempts to contact Harry and talk him into leaving Beauxbatons," Amelia warned sternly. "And that'll result in an automatic expulsion from Hogwarts, since McGonagall agreed to that."

"So I guess I get to attend Hogwarts a year earlier." Ginny assumed.

"Nice try, Miss Prewett," said Amelia. "But your former father is filing for divorce from your mother, so she'll have no choice but to revert back to her maiden name."

"No Miss Prewett, you won't be attending Hogwarts a year earlier," stated Professor McGonagall. "Even if Dumbledore thought about that, I'll see to it that it doesn't happen, understood?!"

Ron and Ginny nodded stiffly, then Amelia and Professor McGonagall left the orphanage. The head of the orphanage instructed Ron and Ginny to head for the recreation room and behave. While the two Weasleys-turned-Prewetts knew that contacting Harry would be nearly impossible, they knew that nobody found out about them sending Harry the box of chocolates laced with the Amortentia and loyalty potions.

Back at Delacour Manor, Sirius and Remus were taking turns telling Harry, Gabby and Fleur stories about their Hogwarts days and how they, Harry's father James and the traitor Peter were known as marauders and how they'd prank their fellow students, with Snape being their favourite target. Sirius even mentioned how they created a map of Hogwarts called the Marauder's Map, which got confiscated during their final year. Remus also told Harry, Gabby and Fleur that his marauder nickname 'Moony' was based on his lycanthropy while Sirius' was known as Padfoot because of his dog animagus, Peter known as Wormtail because of his rat animagus and James known as Prongs because his animagus was a stag. Shortly after the stories were finished being told, Sirius and Remus left the living room to ask the Delacour house elves what was possibly for dinner. Suddenly, the fireplace activated (making Harry, Gabby and Fleur jump in surprise).

"Hello, Harry? Are you there?" chorused two familiar voices.

"Fred! George!" Harry greeted the twins after he got up and walked over to the fireplace to investigate. "How are you two doing?"

"Good!" chorused Fred and George. "We want to go to Gambol And Japes Wizarding Joke Shop at Diagon Alley and we thought of inviting you, your betrothed and maybe her sister along. We even planned to invite Luna along, but our dad is at work and so is Xeno. That's why Luna is here at the Burrow with us."

"I'd love to," said Harry ecstatically. "I think Gabby and Fleur would like to tag along. My godfather, Sirius and my honourary uncle, Remus can tag along, too. When you mentioned that your father and Luna's father are at work, did you imply that having an adult or two with us was recommended?"

"Yes," stated the twins. "Even though we're thirteen, it doesn't hurt having an adult or two accompanying us. Better safe than sorry! We also plan to invite our best friend Lee Jordan with us, he's been begging us to arrange for a day where he can meet you and we also have yet to meet your betrothed and her sister."

"Well, I'll inform Gabby, Fleur, Sirius and Remus of what you two mentioned and see where we can all meet up." said Harry.

"We could meet up at The Leaky Cauldron in London." Fred and George suggested.

"Sounds good." said Harry.

Once the fire call was finished, Harry told Gabby, Fleur, Sirius and Remus what all he discussed with Fred and George. They were interested, so they all got ready and flooed over to The Leaky Cauldron. Once they did that, Harry fire called Fred and George at the Burrow and informed them and Luna, so they also flooed over once the second fire call ended. Then Fred, George and Luna took turns introducing themselves to Gabby, Fleur, Sirius and Remus and vice versa. Gabby even gave the twins and Luna hugs as thanks for helping Harry out, which they hugged her back and assured her that they were more than willing to help out and be genuine friends.

"You know, Harry," said the twins as they led the way to the joke shop. "We almost considered giving you a wonderful gift, but it only works for Hogwarts because it's a map of some sorts that shows the one or ones reading it the castle and everybody in it. We even brought it with us to show you!"

"You brought the Marauder's Map with you?!" Sirius and Remus asked the twins in astonishment.

"Yes, we did," assured the twins. "It took us a while to figure out how to work it. It even mentioned the creators going by Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs."

"I'm the one known as Padfoot," stated Sirius. "Harry's father James was Prongs."

"I'm Moony, and Peter Pettigrew is Wormtail," said Remus. "The one who _really_ betrayed Lily and James."

"Wow, we met two marauders and Harry has some relation to three of them!" said the twins with admiration in their voices.

"Yes, I do." said Harry, doing the best he could not to brag about it. Then he asked the twins, "Are you also best friends with Luna?"

"More than that, Harry, we asked her if she'd like the privilege of being our honourary little sister!" the twins revealed.

"I quickly accepted it!" stated Luna while beaming. "I couldn't have been happier, like I found a place where I belong!"

Pretty soon, they all reached the joke shop and met up with Lee Jordan (who was there with his parents). Lee was a dark skin boy with black dreadlocks and he was starting his third year at Hogwarts. He was ecstatic to meet Harry and even more so when the twins told him that Harry had a relation to three of the marauders. Lee also went up and shook hands with Sirius and Remus. Harry and Gabby decided to visit Eeylops Owl Emporium and check out the different kinds of owls. It wasn't very long after their arrival when a snowy white female owl hooted at Harry when he and Gabby passed by.

"I wonder if this owl is giving us an approving or disapproving hoot!" Harry wondered. That was when the snowy female owl flew onto his shoulders and started nuzzling him in an affectionate manner.

"I think the owl approved!" said Gabby.

The snowy owl also flew onto Gabby's shoulders and began nuzzling her affectionately. So Harry and Gabby decided to take the owl under their wing and walked up to the checkout counter. The manager looked at the snowy owl flying off of Gabby's shoulders and onto Harry's in amazement.

"That owl has been defiant towards others who wished to purchase her!" the manager informed Harry and Gabby. "It was like she was waiting for the right owner or owners. It looks like she found some joint owners she approved finally!"

So Harry paid for the owl and bought some owl treats, too. The manager gave Harry an owl cage and assuring him and Gabby that it was on the house. To show the appreciation, Harry tipped the manager a hundred galleons, then he and Gabby left the owl emporium and started walking back over to the joke shop. Hedwig flew into her cage and went to take a nap once Harry closed and locked the door. They showed the owl to Fleur, Fred, George, Lee, Luna, Sirius and Remus. They were surprised to learn about the owl's behaviour when Harry and Gabby passed by her. Sirius even explained to Harry that owls were incredibly useful, since they could carry mail for owl post.

"The only name I can think of for the owl is Hedwig," said Harry. "I remember reading the name in a book somewhere."

The owl hooted in approval, so the name was set in stone. All too soon, it was time for everybody to return home. Fred and George helped to escort Luna back to the Burrow, so she could go home. Lee left with his parents (who were just as excited to meet Harry, Gabby, Fleur, Sirius and Remus as Lee). They all promised to stay in contact, then Harry, Gabby, Fleur, Sirius and Remus returned to Delacour Manor. Harry and Gabby had no idea what else was awaiting them upon their return.

 _To be continued!_

 **Author's note 1: I'd like to thank '5UP3RN0V4' for Xander's discussion about his unfortunate mishap with Harry and Antonio.**

 **Also a shoutout to 'rb2312' for suggesting Ron and Ginny still going to Hogwarts under an orphan scholarship, and Fred and George taking Luna in under their wing as their honorary little sister.**

 **Even a shoutout to 'david teague 3950' for suggesting the idea of Ron and Ginny purchasing a box of chocolates (with Ginny spiking them with Amortentia and loyalty potions), and then eventually getting the switching the cards trick pulled on her (which will happen in the next chapter).**

 **Author's note 2: As some of you know, I just recently put up a new story focusing on a Harry Harem called 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.' If any of you are interested, please check out the story and let me know what you think!**


	13. Chapter 13

_Disclaimer: As usual, I just own this fanfic and OCs Kassidy and Kassandra. The OC Xander Scamander belongs to 5UP3RN0V4. J.K. Rowling owns the rest, no copyright intended!_

 **Chapter 13: The Switching Game**

After Harry, Gabby, Fleur, Sirius and Remus returned to Delacour Manor, Harry and Gabby headed upstairs to find a way to entertain themselves to pass the time before dinner. When they made it to Harry's room, Harry and Gabby were astonished to see a random screech owl on the outside windowsill, tapping the window to be let in. When the owl flew in, Harry and Gabby saw a big package. This made them suspicious because they never recalled ordering something from an owl catalog before. Nevertheless, Harry relieved the owl of it's burden (since he and Gabby wanted to check to see what the contents might be). Then Harry gave the owl some treats before it took off and back to the owl post office in Diagon Alley. Upon opening the package, Harry and Gabby were surprised to find a big box of chocolates, which happened to be from Ginny Weasley, now Prewett (much to Harry's dismay). They found a note that came with the chocolates, which read:

 _To my one and only Harry,_

 _I purchased this box of chocolates in an attempt to bury the hatchet. If you give me a chance, I'll show you how good I am at kissing and who the right person for you is. Please let me know what you think of the chocolates as soon as possible. I made sure that the chocolates would be the tastiest kind ever._

 _Love XOXOXOXO,_

 _Ginny Prewett_

After they finished reading the note, Harry lowered his head and began shaking it back and forth repeatedly. Gabby, however was outraged that Ginny refused to back off and accept that she and Harry were betrothed. The part-veela was beginning to shake and grit her teeth in anger. Trusting his intuition, Harry refrained from eating the chocolates.

"Gabby, should we pull a prank on Ginevra and perhaps her brother, Ronald?" asked Harry.

"As a matter fact, yes!" said Gabby ecstatically. "Since he may very well have had an indirect role in this, he'll be pranked, too!"

"Seeing that the chocolates are from Ginevra," said Harry. "Maybe we should check for any hidden potions or something."

"Yes, we'd better," Gabby agreed. "That way, it can give us an idea faster!"

So Harry and Gabby pulled their wands out and started casting revealing and detection charms. The chocolates turned out to be laced with not only Amortentia, but also the most powerful loyalty potion ever. Then Gabby began giggling gleefully when she came up with a wonderful idea.

"Gabby, did something come up in your mind on how to deal with the two Weasley turned Prewett kids?" asked Harry.

"Yes, I did!" stated Gabby. "I was thinking we leave the chocolates inside the box, but change the colour of the box, then I can write a note to this Ronald, pretending that the chocolates are for him, from me!"

"Wow, I like that one!" said Harry in agreement, trying to suppress his giggles.

"Since that Ginevra bitch keeps trying to steal you away from me," Gabby started going into details on her idea of the plan. "This prank will throw her for a humiliating loop and hopefully, it will get her off your back for good!"

"What's going on here?" asked Fleur when she walked by and into Harry's room.

"Ginevra Weasley, now Prewett," said Harry. "Fred and George's former sister. She sent me this box of chocolates, which made me and Gabby suspicious. So we cast some revealing and detection charms, and they revealed the chocolates to be laced with Amortentia and very powerful loyalty potions."

"So Harry and I began planning a prank that also involves her brother, Ronald." stated Gabby.

"Hmm," Fleur responded, intrigued. "If you'd like some help from me, I may have an idea or two."

"Okay!" Harry and Gabby chorused.

Fleur came up with the idea to cast a spell on the chocolates to turn them white, which Harry and Gabby were impressed with. Harry changed the colour of the box of chocolates from pink to purple. Gabby managed to get the note written for Ron after ten minutes of thinking over what to write in the note. Harry also wrote a note for Fred and George because he wanted the prank to start after Ron and Ginny finished their breakfast at the orphanage the next morning. Because Hedwig had the 'new box of chocolates' tied to her leg (which wouldn't have been possible without Harry casting the featherweight charm), Harry put the note for Fred and George in her beak.

"Fred and George will need to look after you for tonight, girl." Harry told Hedwig. "It's to help make sure the prank against their former siblings will succeed easier. That note for them in your beak will explain everything, okay?"

Hedwig hooted in understanding before grabbing the note and holding it in her beak. Then she started taking off and began the flight over to the Burrow. Harry, Gabby and Fleur kept a close eye on Hedwig until she was no longer in sight before heading down to the dining room for dinner. They took turns telling Sirius, Remus, Antonio and Apolline about what happened and the prank they had planned. The four adults also found themselves giggling, to the point where they also wondered if they were going to be able to eat.

Meanwhile at the Burrow, Fred and George were going over some of their ideas for future products (due to their passion to open up a joke shop eventually). Luna happened to be there and she also had some ideas of her own. It was 5:30 PM when she was the first to spot the familiar snowy white owl that belonged to Harry and Gabby flying in through an open living room window.

"Hey, there's Hedwig!" said Luna, pointing to the owl.

"Wow, this was unexpected!" Fred and George chorused. "We wonder if they made it back okay."

"There's a letter for you two in her beak!" Luna informed the twins.

So Fred (or George) relieved the letter in Hedwig's beak and opened it, which read:

 _Fred, George and Luna (if she's there, too),_

 _The package tied to Hedwig's leg contains a box of chocolates that Ginevra sent me in another attempt to coax me into coming after her. Ronald may have had a role in helping out, so Gabby, Fleur and myself took turns turning the tables on the box of chocolates. The note on top of the package is from Gabby, intended to make it look like she's giving Ron the chocolates, I changed the colour of the box itself and Fleur changed the colour of the chocolates from brown to white. I thought that Hedwig staying with you for the night would help make the prank easier to succeed. If Ron is what I think he is, he's bound to eat the chocolates after he eats his breakfast. Gabby and I performed some revealing and detection charms and found out that the chocolates were laced with Amortentia and loyalty potions, both were keyed to Ginevra. We think this prank will be humiliating enough for Ronald and Ginevra into backing off for good._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Lord Harry James Potter_

Fred, George and Luna started giggling like crazy as they finished reading the note from Harry. It wasn't just Harry who had some of that marauder streak inside of him, but Gabby and Fleur also had some potential to be what Fred and George called marauderesses. All too soon, Luna had to go home and fifteen minutes after that, Arthur came home from work. He saw a snowy owl in the living, with Fred and George taking turns explaining the story. Even the Weasley patriarch found himself laughing, since he no longer saw Ronald and Ginevra as his children.

(Scene break)

"That was an excellent prank wasn't it, Morag?" a girl with neck-length brunette hair asked a girl with chin-length strawberry-blonde hair the next morning. "That Ginevra sure needs to learn her lesson."

"It sure was, Pansy," said the girl named Morag in agreement. "I never would've been able to come up with that if it wasn't for you!"

"Her unhealthy obsession sure got the best of her," said Pansy with a smirk. "We've all had it with her 'Harry's mine, Harry's mine' bitchy attitude of her's. That complaining is getting Ginevra nowhere!"

Ginny woke up to find a 'granola bar' on her bedside table and she ate it without second thoughts and a minute later, her tongue was glued to the roof of her mouth for five minutes. She had no idea that Fred and George sent Pansy one of their joke products the previous day's afternoon. The one Pansy ordered was called _Glue G_ _ranolas_ , which looked like an ordinary granola bar, but it caused the victims' tongue to be glued to the roof of their mouth (with one Glue Granola's effects lasting five minutes).

"Hello Pansy, Morag!" greeted a pair of twin girls as they walked up to them on their way to the girls' lavatory.

"Hello Flora, Hestia!" Pansy and Morag greeted back.

"You should've seen what happened just now," Flora and Hestia began explaining. "Ernie MacMillan just confronted that Ronald for being part of the reason Harry Potter won't be attending Hogwarts with you all in the few weeks to come."

"That's a bummer we won't be seeing Harry!" said Pansy.

"How did Ernie find out?" asked Morag.

"He got a letter from Neville, from what we heard," Flora and Hestia continued on. "Neville and his gran had been invited to Harry's and his betrothed Gabby Delacour's birthday party. That was when they first found out that they were betrothed."

"And Ginevra flat-out ignores the betrothal and still tries to get Harry to fall for her?" said Morag in exasperation, shaking her head back and forth several times. "That's bad, bad news!"

"Yeah, since that attitude of her's was a clear enough indication!" said Flora and Hestia in unison, agreeing with Morag. "We'd better go wash up for breakfast."

Pansy, Flora and Hestia nodded their heads in agreement and continued on over to the girls' lavatory. After they washed their hands, they reported to the cafeteria for breakfast. Naturally, Ginny was forced to sit with Ron, since they didn't have even one ounce of popularity. Ron did the best he could to comfort his sister and (in false assurance) remind her that Harry would see the error of his ways. After breakfast was over, Ron and Ginny walked up to the boys' dormitory and they found a snowy owl with a package for Ron. After relieving the owl of it's burden, it flew up and landed on an overhead beam to watch the show. Ron found a note on top of it and opened it, which read:

 _To: Ronald Weasley-Prewett_

 _From: Gabrielle Delacour_

 _To the one and only handsome boy with red hair, I sure wish I can get the chance to meet you in person someday. Maybe this gift here will help to cope with anticipating the day we can finally introduce ourselves to each other. Enjoy! I can't wait to meet you, I'm totally stoked!_

Highly intrigued, Ron tore the wrapping paper apart and discovered a purple box. He opened it and saw what looked like white chocolates, picked one up and proceeded to eat it and the rest of them. Ginny shook her head in an exasperated manner over Ron's extreme fondness for sweets. Neither Ron nor Ginny realized that that was the same box of chocolates they sent to Harry and a few minutes after having eaten the chocolates, the effects of Amortentia and the loyalty potions started kicking in. Ron started eyeing his sister with an obsessive look on his face, with his tongue sticking out and hanging down, which subsequently led to Ron drooling.

"What're you doing, Ron?" asked Ginny, baffled.

"Come on, babe," Ron responded while panting like a dog. "Wanna go to a bakery or something tomorrow, or maybe today?"

"Ron, I'm your sister," said Ginny irritably, astonished as to what was going on with her brother. "You know that's sick!"

"What're you talking about, babe?" asked Ron with that obsessive grin on his face. "I just wanna…"

Ginny screamed as she ran out of the dormitory, with Ron (still under the influence of the potions) following in hot pursuit. Once Ron and Ginny left, Hedwig flew out and began flying back to Delacour Manor. Ginny tried to steer clear of Ron with little success and in her panic, she crossed paths with Pansy and Morag (both who were watching the ordeal with amused looks on their faces). As soon as Ginny and Ron reached the recreation room, everybody started laughing in hysterics watching Ron chase his sister. It didn't take long before their fellow orphans started spreading the word to the other wizarding children throughout England by means of owl post. This meant that Ron's and Ginny's reputations were continuing to deteriorate. Ron wouldn't yet have any knowledge that his first year at Hogwarts was going to be a pretty long one for him.

 _To be continued!_

 **Author's note 1: Another shoutout to 'david teague 3950' for the 'switching the cards' prank Harry, Gabby and Fleur pulled on Ron and Ginny, especially with making them think the chocolates were from Gabby. It's thanks to that user that I was able to get this chapter done quicker than usual!**


	14. Chapter 14

_Disclaimer: As I've mentioned many times before, I just own this fanfic and OCs Kassidy and Kassandra. The OC Xander Scamander belongs to 5UP3RN0V4. J.K. Rowling owns the rest, no copyright intended!_

 **Chapter 14: The Search For Competent Teachers**

The next morning after breakfast, Minerva left the castle to search for a new transfiguration teacher, as well as a new potions teacher and a new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher (since she was now the Hogwarts headmistress). While finding another transfiguration teacher and another DADA teacher was going to be hard, Minerva had an idea on who could take over the position as potions teacher and head of Slytherin House. So she apparated over to a house somewhere out in the country, walked up to the front door and knocked. The door opened a minute later and a tall wizard with gray hair and gooseberry-coloured eyes peeked out the door.

"Oh, Minerva!" greeted the wizard. "I wasn't expecting to see you! How are you?"

"Neutral right now, Horace!" stated Minerva. "I've just recently been elected as the new Hogwarts headmistress because Albus and Severus have been committing crimes, and they were fired because of it. I was wondering if you'd like to come out of retirement and return to potions teaching and head of Slytherin House."

"Well, if Albus asked me, I'd would've asked for a raise first," said the wizard named Horace. "But since you're the headmistress, there won't be any need for me to do so. I'll return to teaching potions and being head of Slytherin House."

"Thank you, Horace!" said Minerva gratefully. "I'll let you get back to what you were doing now."

"Okay, I'll see you on September first." said Horace.

He closed the door to his house, then Minerva began pondering her thoughts on who should be the new transfiguration teacher and the new DADA teacher. Minerva also realized that there needed to be a new head of Gryffindor House, too. Then she immediately had an idea on who could be the new transfiguration teacher and the new head of Gryffindor House, so the new Hogwarts headmistress apparated away to find the person. Meanwhile in Diagon Alley, the shopping district was packed with families purchasing school supplies for the children going to Hogwarts. One particular wizard dressed in muggle clothing was searching for somebody when he spotted the wanted posters featuring Dumbledore and Severus. The 'unidentified' wizard pulled his wand out and cast the gemino charms on the posters for one copy of each, then he pocketed them. Once that was done, he apparated away to a seemingly run-down shack in the southern part of England. Inside, he cancelled what he had cast was a glamour charm. The supposed unidentified wizard was Albus Dumbledore and his accomplice also residing in the shack was Severus Snape. They had to come to the shack they were in since Severus' house over at Spinner's End was being patrolled by aurors looking for the other criminals involved in kidnapping Harry (even though Harry escaped).

"Severus, I finally found out why there were aurors over at your house." Albus informed the former potions teacher, handing him the copies of the wanted posters featuring them.

"Somebody must've tipped them off about where I live." Severus deduced, his voice full of contempt. He looked over the wanted poster featuring him. "I'm also gonna face extradition to the french ministry when and if I'm caught? If the brat cooperated and didn't bite me, everything would've gone smoother! What'll we do with him now once we get a hold of him again?"

"I haven't a clue, Severus," said Albus. "I haven't heard from Molly for a while. Maybe she and her two youngest children are having trouble keeping Harry in line, but I can't fire call her, just in case there are others around her who aren't involved in the Greater Good."

"Will we need to wait for the right moment before we strike again?" asked Severus impatiently.

"I'm afraid so, Severus," stated Albus. "Everything needs to cool down first. Once it has, they'll forget the whole kidnapping malarkey ever happened."

Inwardly, Severus groaned in irritation. The wound from the bite on his right hand was mostly healed, but Severus knew the scar would be permanent. Every time he'd see that, it made him more and more eager to teach 'the Potter brat' a harsh lesson. A couple hours or so later, an owl flew through an open window and dropped a copy of the Daily Prophet on the coffee table. Albus picked it up, read the headline and gasped in horror (his eyes widening at the same time). The article said:

 **Molly Prewett Arrested On Conspiracy, Attempted Line Theft and Kidnapping Charges**

 _Molly Prewett was arrested three days ago at her former home on charges of conspiracy, attempted line theft on House Potter and kidnapping Lord Harry James Potter. When questioned while under the influence of Veritaserum, Molly revealed that she and her two youngest children were in on Albus Dumbledore's plan for the Greater Good. Apparently, the plan involved leaving Lord Potter alone and friendless by leaving him with his abusive relatives, the Dursleys, in hopes that Harry would be so grateful to them that he'd see them as his saviours if they rescued him. Molly also mentioned that she helped Albus draw up a void contract to have Harry marry her daughter, Ginevra on his eighteenth birthday. Molly also admitted to have helped Albus arrange plans to kidnap Harry, with help from Severus Snape. The plan succeeded temporarily, but Harry managed to escape and told Amelia Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (and head of House Bones) everything. Lord Potter even stated that his escape was accomplished with team effort from the Lovegoods and Arthur Weasley's twin sons, Fred and George. Molly is currently in a ministry holding cell, awaiting trial for her crimes._

Albus was left speechless once he was done reading the article. Severus read it himself and looked as though he was going to foam at the mouth. No wonder the Potter brat escaped so fast, he had some assistance from several people. Trying to bust Molly out of ministry custody wasn't an option because Albus and Severus were wanted felons.

Meanwhile at Delacour Manor, Harry, Gabby and Fleur were coming back from taking a walk. When they finally walked inside, they witnessed an owl dropping a letter in front of Remus (who was sitting on a couch in the living room), and he saw that the owl was wearing the Hogwarts crest over it's chest. He picked it up, unfolded the letter and started reading it and it said:

 _Remus,_

 _Just thought I'd let you know that I've recently been asked to be the new headmistress and I accepted. I also wrote this letter to offer you the job as the new Hogwarts Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher. Since term starts in three weeks, I'll give you a week to think it over. Once you've come to an ultimate decision, let me know as soon as possible._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Minerva McGonagall_

 _Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft And Wizardry_

"Moony, what is it?" asked Sirius (who was sitting on a nearby armchair) when he saw the surprised look on Remus' face and him opening his mouth repeatedly rendered speechless.

"Minerva just offered me the job teaching Defence Against The Dark Arts at Hogwarts!" stated Remus once he was able to find his voice, handing the letter to Sirius (who was grinning as he read it).

"You should accept it!" said Sirius in an encouraging voice.

Harry, Gabby and Fleur also nodded their heads (with smiles on their faces) in approval at Remus. With a smile on his face, Remus got up and sat down on a desk to write a reply. While that was happening, Antonio and Apolline came home for lunch. They were given the full scope and they even approved of Remus going to teach DADA at Hogwarts. Once he finished writing his reply to Minerva letting her that he accepted, Remus tied the letter to the Hogwarts owl's leg and then it took off. Ten minutes or so later, another owl flew in through the open window and dropped a letter in front of Harry. He unfolded it, which said:

 _Hey Harry,_

 _I've got some exciting news! Professor McGonagall asked gran to be the new transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts and the new head of Gryffindor House! She accepted both. Hope all is well for you and Gabby._

 _From,_

 _Neville Longbottom_

Once he finished reading the letter, Harry showed it to Gabby, Fleur, Antonio, Apolline, Sirius and Remus. They all grinned when they found out about Augusta becoming the new transfiguration teach and head of Gryffindor House. They all even wrote notes giving the head of House Longbottom congratulations on her new job. Once all that was done, the letters were tied to the owl's leg, then it flew back out through the window and on it's way back to Longbottom Manor.

Meanwhile at the Burrow, Fred, George, Lee and Luna were busy with creating their joke products. They were also laughing because they had received letters from several kids at the orphanage, with each letter giving different explanations as to what happened between Ron and Ginny. Fred, George, Lee and Luna were laughing so much that they couldn't decide which story was the funniest. Once they finished laughing, they left the Burrow and started walking down to the village of Ottery St. Catchpole (hoping they could come up with inspirations for future products). As they walked into a convenience store to buy some muggle snacks, Luna saw a bag of popcorn and immediately widened her eyes in ingenuity as she thought of an idea. Once they all bought some snacks (which they had to pay for with muggle money) and started walking back to the Burrow, Luna turned her attention to Fred, George and Lee.

"This bag of popcorn inspired me for inventing a new product!" stated Luna.

"What kind of idea did you come up with, Luna?" asked Fred, George and Lee in unison, with intrigued looks on their faces.

"Popcorn poppers!" Luna began explaining her idea. "I was thinking we could make them look like actual popcorn, but they'll eventually inflate and pop if they're bitten down. Maybe we could even lace them with potions that'll turn the inside of the victims' mouths into different colours for a limited time when they actually try to eat them!"

"Wow!" the twins responded in their twin talk, with fascination in their voices. "That's excellent, Luna!"

"And maybe the different colours could even have different effects!" Luna went on. "Like the red potions could cause the victims to experience a sweet taste no matter what they eat, maybe blue ones could make them experience a sour taste, and maybe the green could make them experience a salty taste!"

"Now that could be something!" said Lee with fascination in his voice.

"And Ickle Ronnykins will chomp on them without _any_ hesitation, since we all know about his _fondness_ for food!" stated the twins. "He won't even bother checking for any potion laced in these popcorn poppers."

"We also should keep the different potion colours separated," Luna advised. "So no one will end up trying to eat a handful of the poppers and have them ingest all three of the potions at once."

"Yes, you're right, Luna," stated Lee in agreement. "Since that could have dangerous side effects."

"Which could ruin their taste buds." stated Fred and George. "The insides of their mouths could also get irritation, painfuls bumps, or any number of bad effects."

"Hopefully Harry, Gabby and Fleur will enjoy the idea of popcorn poppers as a joke product." said Luna.

"They will, Luna," assured Fred, George and Lee simultaneously in soft voices. "If it makes you feel better, you can write them a letter and explain your idea."

Luna smiled at the suggestion. They all left the Burrow by floo travel to go to Diagon Alley and get some extra parchment, bottles of ink and quills to write down different ideas for other future joke products and draw up what they ought to look like. Luna sat down at a table in The Leaky Cauldron to write a letter to Harry, Gabby and Fleur to tell them all about her newly developed idea for popcorn poppers. Then she folded up the letter and took it to an owl post office to have it mailed. Once that was done, Luna went to find Fred, George and Lee (who had already bought the ink, parchment and quills, and were now at Zonko's).

The owl that had Luna's letter grasped in it's beak started flying off to Delacour Manor. It was around mid-afternoon when the owl made it (since it had to stop and rest a couple times because of the summer heat). Harry, Gabby and Fleur were outside working on their tan when Harry felt the letter drop onto his back because he was laying on his stomach, but the owl flew away before it could be noticed.

"Huh?!" Harry responded in bewilderment, as he started reaching behind his back with his hands.

"Are you alright, Harry?" asked Gabby and Fleur in unison, as they sat up (they had been laying on their backs on towels).

"Yeah, I felt something," said Harry. Then he pulled the parchment off of his back and looked at it. "Oh, it's a letter from Luna."

"What did she write?" asked Gabby and Fleur.

Harry unfolded the letter held in front of himself, Gabby and Fleur. The letter said:

 _Hi Harry, Gabby, Fleur,_

 _How are you three doing? Fred, George, Lee and I went down to Ottery St. Catchpole, a village not too far from the Burrow. We were working on some future joke products, then we walked down to the village to see what kind of muggle snacks they had. I found a bag of popcorn that inspired a future joke product called Popcorn Poppers. It's supposed to look like actual popcorn, but I imagine them inflated before popping once they're bitten down. I even imagined them getting laced with three different colours of potions to cause different effects for the victims. Red would make the victims taste food as if it was sweet, blue would make them taste food as if it were sour, and the green would make them taste food as if it were salty. Do you like the idea? We hope to hear from you soon._

 _Love,_

 _Luna_

"I like the idea!" said Fleur enthusiastically. "I do wonder if the popcorn poppers will be the same colour as the potions they're laced with."

"I think so," stated Harry. "If it wasn't that way, it would be confusing for the customers purchasing them."

"That's a good point," said Gabby, agreeing with Harry's statement. "Luna certainly has a great idea there and I like it!"

"Same here!" agreed Harry. "We'll have to wait until Hedwig gets back before we can write a reply to Luna."

Then Harry, Gabby and Fleur went back to working on their tan before dinner. They knew that the first day of the new school year at Beauxbatons was exactly three weeks away, so they wanted to enjoy every bit of their holiday as much as they could until then. It was especially going to be something new for Harry and Gabby, since it would be their first year while Fleur would be starting her fourth year. Harry and Gabby started wondering what their classes were going to be like. Even though Fleur told them a little bit about lessons at Beauxbatons, being in the classrooms and actually learning magic would be different.

 _To be continued!_

 **Author's note: The letters that Fred, George, Lee and Luna received from the kids at the orphanage Ron and Ginny were in, I'm going to leave it to you to decide what were written in them.**


	15. Chapter 15

_Disclaimer: As usual, I just own this fanfic and OCs, Kassidy and Kassandra. The OC Xander Scamander belongs to 5UP3RN0V4. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling, no copyright intended!_

 **Chapter 15: The Beauxbatons Subway**

Professor McGonagall was happy to have found some teachers for Transfiguration, Potions and Defence Against The Dark Arts. But she was having trouble looking for a suitable teacher for History of Magic. She found evidence in the headmaster's office of Dumbledore having ignored many people complaining about the subject and rejecting other wizards and witches a chance to teach the subject, in the form of written letters. They were all mentioning that Professor Binns would just talk in a monotone voice, and the ghost of a teacher only discussing the goblin wars.

"I would ask Mr. Bill Weasley to teach History of Magic," Professor McGonagall told herself. "But last I heard, he's in Egypt working for Gringotts as a curse breaker."

Then the recently-elected headmistress came up with an idea, so she got out some ink, parchment and a quill and started writing a letter to an old friend she believed might be interested in the job. Meanwhile at the Burrow, Luna, Lee and the Weasley twins were continuing their joke product inventing. They were making some progress on the Popcorn Poppers Luna came up with. Sometime a little later, the four spotted Hedwig flying in through an open window. The owl dropped a letter in front of Luna before finding a place to land. Luna picked it up, unfolded it, held it out in front of herself, Fred, George and Lee, and the four of them began reading the letter, which said:

 _Hi Luna, Fred, George and Lee,_

 _The popcorn poppers idea was excellent. Fleur, Gabby and myself were intrigued by the idea. We even started wondering if the popcorn poppers will be the same colour as the potion they're laced with, something Fleur came up with. The inflating when bitten down is also a nice touch. Hope you all are doing well._

 _Love,_

 _Harry, Gabby and Fleur_

"See, we told you they'd like it!" Fred and George told Luna in their twin speak, softly.

"Yeah," agreed Luna with a smile. "And Fleur even came up with an idea to make the poppers the same colour as the potions they're laced with? I never even thought of that one before, so I should remember to write a thank-you note to her when we get around to writing a reply."

"Yes, that's a must." said Lee in agreement. "I wonder if that's why Hedwig is still here."

"Perhaps." said the twins in their twin speak. "Just wants to make sure if we'll reply to the letter before leaving again."

The four of them went back to the joke product creation. Eventually, they got a response letter to Harry, Gabby and Fleur written and sent it away with Hedwig. Shortly after dinner was over, Hedwig arrived at Delacour Manor and dropped Luna's letter in front of Harry (who was in the living room with Gabby).

"Another letter from Luna." Harry informed Gabby.

"I wonder what she wrote." said Gabby eagerly.

Harry unfolded the letter and held it out in front of himself and Gabby. The letter said:

 _Hi Harry, Gabby, and Fleur,_

 _I'm glad you like the popcorn poppers idea. I also want to say thank you to Fleur for helping out with the idea of making the poppers the same colour as the potions they're laced with. I was trying to think of something to make it easier to distinguish between the different effects. Fred, George, Lee and I have been making some progress with the product, but hopefully with Fleur having came up with that idea, that'll make it easier. Hope we can see you all sometime over Christmas._

 _Love,_

 _Luna, Fred, George and Lee_

Harry and Gabby had smiles on their faces as they read the letter. Moments later, Fleur came downstairs to see Harry and Gabby reading a letter. Harry handed it to Fleur and she widened her eyes in a mixture of surprise and joy, followed by a grin.

"I didn't expect that Luna would like my idea!" said Fleur. "It still does some good to help someone out when it's needed."

Harry and Gabby nodded their heads in agreement. All too soon, it was time for Harry, Gabby and Fleur to get ready for bed (since they knew they needed to start getting used to a scheduled bedtime, since boarding schools definitely had that).

/Scene break\

The rest of the summer holidays passed by too quickly it seemed like. Now it was September 1st, the day term at Beauxbatons was due to begin. Harry, Gabby and Fleur spent their time after breakfast packing up for school (and double checking to make sure they had everything needed). Back in England, the Weasleys left for King's Cross Station at 10:30 AM. Luna and Xeno even tagged along to see Fred and George off. When Lee met up with the Weasley twins, the three gave Luna goodbye hugs, then she felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"It's gonna be so lonesome without you three!" Luna tearfully replied.

"We know, Luna!" Fred and George responded softly with their twin talk. "We'll write to you the first chance we get."

"The Christmas holidays will also be here before you know it, Luna." assured Lee.

Luna felt her spirits rise with those words. Fred and George spotted their former brother, walking onto the train. When Lee and Luna saw it themselves, they started grinning (having anticipated what was going to happen). As Ron walked into the middle car (not counting the bright-red steam engine), he caught countless glimpses of other students pointing and laughing at him. Even if Ginny were allowed to see her brother off, it wouldn't have made a difference because she would've experienced the same thing. The only compartment that was completely empty was the one at the back of the caboose. Ron walked into the compartment and put his school trunk on a rack above the seats. Moments later, Ron spotted Fred, George and Lee strolling by his compartment and they came in while cracking their knuckles.

"Just so you know, Ickle Ronnykins," the twins spoke in their twin talk, in mocking tones. "Your time at Hogwarts will be hell for you, just in case you haven't figured out that all the other students laughing and pointing at you didn't give you a clue. Ickle Ginnykins will experience that herself at the start of the next school year."

"And don't go playing innocent either!" Lee warned. "Many of the others have already found out that you had a hand in driving Harry away. You know how fast news travels throughout our world, and throughout the castle. We won't be surprised if you don't manage to make any friends. So you'd better be prepared for what lies ahead of you, Ronald!"

With that conclusion, the three pranksters left the compartment. Ron felt his stomach twist as he anticipated the inevitable. The other orphans would poke fun at him and some of them even told him that Fred, George and Lee would write letters to them explaining that Luna was now like a sister to them. Was this one of karma's ways of coming back to kick his arse? It sure felt like it and it was making the former male Weasley tense up even more. Once it was 11:00 AM, the Hogwarts Express started departing from Platform Nine-And-Three-Quarters. Concurrently (10:00 AM Paris time), Harry, Sirius, Remus and the Delacours had just arrived at _Gare du Nord_ to head for the Beauxbatons subway. Harry, Gabby and Fleur even put their respective belongings on three separate trolleys. There was a gate leading to a seemingly abandoned subway that no muggle paid any attention to, as there was a sign over the gateway that said, ' _Pas d'entree,_ ' on it.

"That's french for no entry, Harry." said Gabby when she caught the confused look on his face.

Harry nodded his head to show that he understood. He was learning how to speak french properly during the last few weeks before term started. He was getting better, but it was still a lengthy process.

"This gate leads to the platform that holds the Beauxbatons subway, Harry." said Fleur.

When Harry nodded his head again to show he understood, the entire group approached the gate and it opened up like a robot or something was keeping watch. Maybe some kind of spell had been cast on the gate to open when somebody were to approach it within a certain distance. Once the gate was completely open, Harry, Gabby and Fleur pushed their respective trolleys forward and started walking on. The Kraymors were already there, with Kassidy and Kassandra hugging their parents before getting their stuff off of their trolleys and dragging them toward the train (which was decorated with the Beauxbatons school colours, the first car even had the Beauxbatons crest painted on it).

"Good luck with teaching Defence Against The Dark Arts, Remus!" said Harry, Gabby and Fleur simultaneously.

"Thank you, you three!" said Remus gratefully. "Good luck on your first day at Beauxbatons."

"Thank you, Remus!" chorused Harry, Gabby and Fleur.

Once they all finished exchanging hugs and saying goodbye, Harry, Gabby and Fleur grabbed their stuff and went to find a compartment. They spotted Kassidy sticking her head out of one of the compartments and she beckoned the three into it (Kassandra was already there, trying to get her trunk up onto an overhead rack). The five helped one another in getting their trunks on the overhead racks.

" **The Beauxbatons subway is now departing from the platform!"** the conductor's magnified voice announced.

Harry, Gabby, Fleur, Kassidy and Kassandra waved to their respective parents (or guardians in Harry's case) through the window. Once the train was no longer in sight, Remus left to find a secluded place to apparate over to Hogwarts. Antonio went to the french ministry, Apolline returned to Delacour Manor while Sirius went to see if he could find work.

/Scene break\

It was 5:30 PM (where it was already dark outside) back in England when the Hogwarts Express arrived at Hogsmeade station. At just that moment, Hagrid was shown walking toward the train slowing down with a lamp in his massive hand. Then the countless number of students started walking out of the different cars and onto the platform.

"First years, first years this way, please!" Hagrid called out, motioning with his other hand. "Come on now, first years, no need to be shy!"

Neville, Blaise, Susan and Daphne began walking up to Hagrid after they left the train. Once all the first years gathered in front of Hagrid, he began leading them over to the boats.

"No more than four to a boat!" Hagrid instructed.

He had a boat to himself and when all the first years were in the boats, Hagrid tapped his boat three times and they all started sailing towards the castle. Naturally, Ron wasn't having a great time because the other three first years he was sharing a boat with mostly ignored him. The only times they paid him any attention were to jeer at him. Even keeping his head down proved to be of little use, since one of the boys (who had pale-blonde hair combed back and gray eyes, along with a sneer on his face) kept antagonizing him.

"If it isn't a Weasley-turned-Prewett!" the boy taunted Ron. "Rumour has it that _you_ had a hand in causing Lord Potter to attend a different school. Am I right or am I right?"

"No!" said Ron hastily, when he spotted two hulking boys cracking their knuckles.

"Must I remind you how fast news travels throughout our world?" the blonde boy taunted again. "Crabbe, Goyle and myself have even been receiving letters from your fellow orphans mentioning that gold-digger sister of yours dreaming about being married to Lord Potter, just for his money."

"My sister ain't a gold digger, Malfoy!" Ron snapped at the blonde boy, his face and ears turning red. "You're lucky that she didn't hear that or she'll…"

"Boys, maybe we should teach weasel-bee a lesson here!" the boy who went by Malfoy told the boys who went by Crabbe and Goyle.

So they started poking Ron and even pinching him repeatedly. Ron tried to fight back, but that only got him pushed into the lake. Then a couple of giant tentacles pushed Ron back into the boat. Ron was gritting his teeth in a mixture of being cold and seething in anger at the other boys in the boat.

"You're looking better now, weasel-bee!" the boy who went by Malfoy taunted once more.

The rest of the boat ride continued on uneventfully. Ron continued shivering because of his robes being soaking wet while the others were bone-dry. Even the others in the surrounding boats were laughing and pointing their fingers at Ron. When the boats started docking, the other students tried to keep their distance from Ron. The Weasley-turned-Prewett boy was lucky that Hagrid tapped his umbrella on his drenched uniform, drying them up instantly. Hagrid led the students up to a large bronze door and knocked three times. A short, goblin-looking wizard with brown hair and a heavy brown moustache opened the door.

"They're here, Professor Flitwick." Hagrid informed the deputy headmaster. So he led the students over to a waiting area with another bronze door. It was closed at the moment and Hagrid opened it, walked through and closed it back up to continue on over to the Great Hall.

"Welcome to Hogwarts!" Professor Flitwick spoke. "In a few minutes, you'll join your classmates. But you must be sorted into your houses first before you can take your seats. The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. While you're here, your house will be like your family, in a way. Triumphs will earn you house points and any rule breaking will lose you points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points will be awarded the house cup. I suggest that you start preparing for the Sorting Ceremony, which is due to begin any minute now."

So Professor Flitwick left the room to give the first years time to prepare. Ron felt his stomach twist in fright at the thought of possibly ending up in Slytherin, but Gryffindor would hardly be much better (knowing that Fred, George and Lee would make sure he didn't get a moment's peace). Ron also knew he wouldn't be smart enough for Ravenclaw, and he certainly wasn't loyal enough for Hufflepuff.

'I know I'm screwed!' thought a now anxiety-filled Ron. 'It's either Gryffindor or Slytherin I'll end up in and nobody will be giving me any peace throughout the whole year!'

"Well well, if it isn't the weasel-bee!" sneered Pansy as she approached Ron with a mischievous look on her face.

"What is it, Parkinson?" asked Ron irritably.

"To remind you of what lies ahead," stated Pansy. "Since you helped to drive Lord Harry Potter away, alot of us are going to make sure you get your comeuppance!"

"I was already reminded, just before the train left Platform Nine-And-Three-Quarters." said Ron.

"Like I said, we'll all be keeping an eye on you, _reeeeeaaaaaal_ closely," said Pansy, pointing a finger in Ron's face. "So no tricks, there'll be eyes around even if you can't see them. You mark my words!"

There were snickers comings from many of the other first years when Pansy was finished. She walked back to where Morag was standing, with the strawberry-blonde girl even giving Ron the middle finger. This resulted in more snickers, forcing Ron to keep his eyes on the ground.

'Yep, I'm definitely screwed!' thought Ron miserably. 'Good thing Ginny isn't here, or she'd be going crazy if anybody told her that Harry would never be interested in her! This whole school year will take an eternity. Even the days until the Christmas holidays will feel like that!'

 _To be continued!_


	16. Chapter 16

_Disclaimer: As I've stated before, I just own this fanfic and OCs Kassidy and Kassandra. The OC Xander Scamander belongs to 5UP3RN0V4. J.K. Rowling owns the rest, no copyright intended!_

 **Chapter 16: Persistence At It's Anti-Finest**

Professor Flitwick came back a few minutes later to escort the first years to the Great Hall. The ceiling in the Great Hall was bewitched to look like the sky outside. This meant that when it was dark outside, the enchanted ceiling would resemble the dark sky, and when it was light outside, the ceiling would resemble the light sky. Once the first years stopped in front of a stool with a worn-out hat resting on top of it three steps up, Ron spotted Pansy and Morag both pointing their index and middle fingers at their eyes before pointing them to Ron as a way of letting him know that they have their eyes on him, resulting in Ron feeling his stomach twist in fright again.

"When I call your name, you will come forth and I'll place the sorting hat on your head, where you'll be sorted into the house best suited for you." Professor Flitwick instructed the first year students before unrolling a piece of rolled-up parchment and reading the first name on the list. "Abbott, Hannah!"

A girl with blonde hair in pigtails (who had been standing next to Susan) walked forward and sat down on the stool. The deputy headmaster placed the hat on Hannah's head (which covered her eyes).

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted immediately.

The table at the furthest right to the double doors applauded as Hannah got up and walked over to take a seat. Then Professor Flitwick read the second name on the list, "Bones, Susan!"

Susan walked forward and took a seat just before the hat was placed on her head. "HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted again.

The Hufflepuff table applauded once more as Susan got up and sat down next to Hannah. Boot, Terry and Brocklehurst, Mandy were sorted into Ravenclaw. Brown, Lavender was the first Gryffindor while Bulstrode, Millicent was sorted into Slytherin. Some students were sorted immediately while for others, it took a minute or two before the hat came to an ultimate decision. Corner, Michael was sorted into Ravenclaw while Cornfoot Stephen went to Gryffindor. Crabbe, Vincent (one of the hulky-looking boys accompanying Malfoy on the boat) became a Slytherin.

"Davis, Tracey!" Professor Flitwick called.

A girl with brown hair in a medium ponytail (who had been standing next to Daphne) approached the stool and sat down. Then the hat was placed on her head before it shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"

The table at the furthest left from the double doors applauded as Tracey got up and joined the Slytherins. Dunbar, Fay was sorted into Gryffindor, same with Entwhistle, Kevin while Finch-Fletchley, Justin became a Hufflepuff. Finnigan, Seamus became a Gryffindor while Goldstein, Anthony was made a Ravenclaw and Goyle, Gregory (the other hulking boy accompanying Malfoy) sorted into Slytherin.

"Granger, Hermione!" the deputy headmaster called out.

A girl with brown, bushy hair and buck teeth (who had been standing behind Pansy and Morag) nervously walked forward and sat down on the stool. A couple minutes after being placed on Hermione's head, the sorting hat shouted, "RAVENCLAW!"

The table closest to the Slytherin table applauded as Hermione got up and took a seat next to Anthony. Then Professor Flitwick read the next name on the list and called out, "Greengrass, Daphne!"

Daphne approached the stool and sat down. Once the hat was placed on her head, it almost immediately shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"

The Slytherin table erupted with applause again as Daphne got up and sat down next to Tracey. Hopkins, Wayne and Jones, Megan became Hufflepuffs while Li, Sue was sorted into Ravenclaw.

"Longbottom, Neville!" Professor Flitwick called out.

Neville approached the stool and sat down before the hat was placed on his head. After a minute, it shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

The Hufflepuff table applauded as Neville got up and sat by Susan and Hannah. MacDougal, Morag (the strawberry-blonde girl who was standing by Pansy) was also sorted into Hufflepuff, as did MacMillan, Ernest.

"Malfoy, Draco!" Professor Flitwick called out.

The pale-blonde boy stepped forward and sat down on the stool. The hat barely touched his head when it shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"

The Slytherin table applauded when Draco got up to join Crabbe and Goyle. Malone, Roger became a Ravenclaw while Moon, Lilith was sorted into Slytherin, as were Nott, Theodore and Parkinson, Pansy. Patil, Padma became a Ravenclaw while her twin sister, Parvati went to Gryffindor. Perks, Sally-Anne was sorted into Hufflepuff and when Harry's name never got mentioned, the harsh reality of the head of House Potter attending a different school caused the majority of the student body to give off a disappointed, " _AWWW_!"

Rivers, Oliver was sorted into Gryffindor, same with Roper, Sophie. Smith, Sally was sorted into Hufflepuff while Thomas, Dean became a Gryffindor and Turpin, Lisa becoming a Ravenclaw, and finally…

"Weasley-Prewett, Ronald!" called Professor Flitwick.

With his arms and legs trembling with more and more fright, Ron approached the stool and sat down. The hat was placed on his head while the majority of the student body found themselves snickering at Ron. Blaise even found himself smirking, anticipating the inevitable. After a minute or so, the hat shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"

The students burst out laughing as soon as the hat sorted Ron into Slytherin. The redhead felt his arms and legs stiffen in utter fright and thus, he had to be reminded by the deputy headmaster that there was one more student who needed to be sorted. Ron felt his arms and legs regain sensation and reluctantly got up and sat down at the Slytherin table (where everybody kept their distance, as if Ron had the dragon pox). Blaise was also sorted into Slytherin, then Professor Flitwick rolled the parchment back up and used a hover charm to put the stool and sorting hat away before joining the others at the staff table. Once he took a seat next to Professor McGonagall (who was sitting in the headmistress' chair), she got up to make some announcements.

"I have some start-of-term notices I wish to announce!" Professor McGonagall began informing the student body. "First, the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students. The village of Hogsmeade is also forbidden to first and second year students or any student without parental or guardian permission. Second, I'd like you all to give Professor Remus Lupin a warm welcome, who has kindly accepted the post of Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher!"

Remus got up and bowed as most of the students clapped and cheered. The children who were members of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Houses were especially happy to see it themselves (since they knew he was one of the guests at Harry and Gabby's birthday party).

"Third," Professor McGonagall went on. "I'd like you all to also give a warm welcome to Professor Augusta Longbottom, who has decided to take over as the Transfiguration teacher and head of Gryffindor House!"

Augusta stood up and bowed, getting just as much applause as Remus. Neville was bouncing up and down on his seat with excitement to see his gran teaching at Hogwarts. Susan and Hannah had to restrain Neville to prevent him from falling backwards and/or off his seat.

"Fourth," Professor McGonagall resumed. "I'd like you all to welcome Professor Horace Slughorn, who has decided to come out of retirement and return to being the potions teacher and Head of Slytherin House!"

Horace stood up and bowed, getting equal applause from the student body. The students could only hope that Professor Slughorn was very different from Professor Snape, since those who were second year and above began informing the first years about Snape and his lame teaching methods.

"Fifth," Professor McGonagall continued on. "Also a warm welcome for Professor Doris Crockford, who has decided to take over as the History of Magic teacher!"

A witch with white, straight shoulder-length hair stood up and bowed, also winning alot of applause. The second year and above students even explained to the first years that Professor Binns, the previous History of Magic teacher (and the only known ghost teacher) would just speak in a monotone voice and only discuss the goblin wars.

"Finally," Professor McGonagall went on. "To tell you all why Lord Harry James Potter isn't a student here as initially believed is due to several people being responsible for manipulating him."

This resulted in Ron receiving glares and jeers from most of the student body. The redhead cowered in fear for the umpteenth time, knowing that he had a hand in the whole Harry getting kidnapped fiasco. Fred, George and Lee grinned mischievously as they watched Ron's predicament, and they also began planning to give Ginny some more comeuppance. In fact, most of the other students had the same thought (given the fact that news in the wizarding world spreads as fast as the dragon pox).

"This was also why I had to find some new teachers several weeks before term started," Professor McGonagall continued telling the story. "Since Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape have been fired from their respective posts, as they appeared to be the masterminds behind kidnapping Harry. But I assure you that Harry is safe and with people who care for him deeply. Now let the feast begin."

Professor McGonagall clapped her hands and almost immediately, food appeared on the tables. Ron's stomach began burning with a combination of fright, guilt and high anxiety, so he uncharacteristically lost his appetite. All that began worsening for Ron when he spotted Blaise telling Daphne and Tracey something before the three of them looked at Ron and started laughing. Even Draco and Pansy joined in on the discussion to help make Ron as miserable as possible.

Meanwhile at the Beauxbatons Academy, Harry and the other Beauxbatons students had just finished up with the welcoming feast. While most of the students went to their assigned common rooms, Harry and Gabby were following Fleur over to a special private quarters reserved for Lord and the future Lady Potter only (unless anybody else was granted permission to enter). Kassidy and Kassandra also accompanied them, just in case they may want to see Harry and Gabby in their quarters in the future (since they figured memorizing the portrait guarding the entrance was a good idea). Fleur, Kassidy and Kassandra waved and said their goodbyes to Harry and Gabby before the two entered their quarters and sat down on a couch.

"I hope Remus' first day as a teacher will work out well for him tomorrow." said Harry.

"I think it will," Gabby assured her betrothed. "Especially with that Dumbledore guy gone, Hogwarts' reputation may start returning to how it was when the founders built the castle."

"Maybe after the first week," Harry responded while smirking and trying to hold his laughter in. "Fred, George and Lee may inform us about what all Ronald is bound to go through at this moment and for who-knows-how-long."

"I also think that that delusional Ginevra will be facing the same thing too, in some way or another." said Gabby, also trying to suppress her giggles. "Since she always assumes that she'll marry you and nobody will seem to be able to convince her otherwise."

"Just imagine somebody playing a trick on her by making her think that 'her hero' will ask her to meet her somewhere like at a playground or something," said Harry, finding it hard to suppress his laughter. "Anything involving the Boy-Who-Lived will naturally intrigue her to follow instructions to the point where she'll actually comply, only to find out too late that it was somebody intending to prevent her from getting her so-called happily ever after."

Harry and Gabby began laughing so hard that tears were flowing down their faces (with Gabby rolling around on the floor while grasping her sides). While the two eleven year olds continued laughing in hysterics, a mythical bird (seemingly a silver-feathered phoenix) was spying on them. Then it flew away and back over to a safehouse fifteen to twenty miles from the school, where it transformed from the phoenix into Albus Dumbledore. He walked inside the safehouse where Severus was waiting.

"Well, Harry and his so-called betrothed are inside the academy," Albus informed the former Hogwarts potions teacher. "But I'm afraid we'll need to wait until next weekend before we can begin the next plan for the Greater Good. This will give us some time to plan the whole thing out and make sure it'll be foolproof."

"If the brat bites me again," Severus responded with contempt directed at Harry. "I'll make sure it'll be the last thing _he_ ever does!"

"But first, I need to get the Dursleys over here, since this involves them, too," stated Dumbledore. "After all, Harry is in his safest place with them. The blood wards were cast around their house for a reason after all."

"I'll even show him that scar on my hand where he bit me," said Severus through gritted teeth. "As a way of reminding him of what happened that day when things could've gone smoother. Anybody who bites me ain't gonna get away with it! Potter will realize that the hard way."

So Albus and Severus continued with planning out how the next part of the Greater Good would work out. Albus also knew that talking Harry into dropping charges against Molly Prewett was necessary, or so it seemed. After all, Harry and Ginny were soulmates, right? That was why the marriage contract between them was drawn up, the whole thing was destiny. If Harry continued to allow himself to be corrupted, then the Greater Good will never succeed, and it must succeed one way or the other.

 _To be continued!_

 **Author's note: Before you complain, Snape saying 'ain't' or 'gonna' was simply put in for some comic relief. I've already received complaints about that happening and if it still bothers you, hit the back button and find another story to read.**


	17. Chapter 17

_Disclaimer: As usual, I just own this fanfic and OCs Kassidy and Kassandra. The OC Xander Scamander belongs to 5UP3RN0V4, while the rest belongs to J.K. Rowling. No copyright intended!_

 **Chapter 17: Harry's Unwilling Return To The Past**

The next morning at 5:45 AM, Harry got up to get ready for his first day of lessons. Upon walking into the living room in his and Gabby's quarters, Harry spotted an owl with a letter tied to it's leg. When he opened the window, the owl flew in and the crest over it's chest revealed it to be an owl working for the owl post office at Diagon Alley. Harry relieved it of the letter and gave it some owl treats before it took off back to Diagon Alley. The letter turned out to be from Luna, so Harry unfolded it, which said:

 _Dear Harry, Gabby, and Fleur,_

 _How was the journey to Beauxbatons yesterday? I wrote this letter shortly after seeing Fred, George and Lee off to Hogwarts for their third year and had it sent after lunch. Even though it'd be about seventeen or eighteen hours before the letter reaches you, it still feels lonesome not to be around them. They did write to me and let me know that they made it to Hogwarts safely, but it's not the same as being in their presence and helping them out with their joke products. The Christmas holidays will make it seem like an eternity to get here. Hope to hear from you soon!_

 _Love,_

 _Luna_

As Harry read the letter, he started feeling sympathy for Luna, immediately realizing that she was at her family home, all alone. As soon as Gabby entered the living room and sat down next to Harry, he showed her the letter. Even she felt sympathy for Luna, the frown forming on her face was showing it. Harry came up with an idea on how to help out, so he went back into his room and grabbed the mirror Sirius gave him at his and Gabby's birthday party. Then he returned to the living room and sat back down next to his betrothed.

"Sirius Black!" Harry spoke into the mirror.

He felt some vibration, which indicated that it was trying to reach Sirius. After a minute or so, Sirius' face showed up and he smiled before saying, "Hey pup! How are you and Gabby?"

"Doing good!" stated Harry and Gabby in unison.

"That's good." said Sirius. "I'm sorry I didn't let either of you know that Remus and I have these mirrors."

"Don't worry, Sirius! I figured that since you gave me and Gabby our respective mirrors." Harry assured. Then he asked, "Are you busy at the moment?"

"Not really, may I ask why?" asked Sirius, rather curiously.

"Yes, we got a letter from Luna," Harry explained. "And she told us how Fred, George and Lee being at Hogwarts is making her feel lonesome."

"Perhaps after I finish getting ready," said Sirius. "I'll contact Damon and Ariel and explain what you told me and maybe they can talk to Xeno about having Luna stay at Greengrass Manor during the day. Tori starts Hogwarts next year, so I think she and Luna will bond really well."

"I think we'll wait before we write back to Luna," said Gabby. "Since it'll take a few hours before she gets it. This could also be a big surprise for her."

"I agree," said Harry. "Luna even mentioned one of the joke products she helped Fred, George and Lee come up with was something called popcorn poppers."

"I'll have to see that once it's ready," said Sirius as a smirk formed on his face. "You two better head for breakfast and get ready for your first day and I'll talk to you later."

"Alright, bye Sirius!" Harry and Gabby chorused.

Then Sirius' face disappeared from the mirror and Harry went back to his room to put the mirror away. Once that was taken care of, Harry and Gabby left their quarters and over to the dining hall. Along the way, they met up with Fleur, Kassidy and Kassandra. Meanwhile at the Lovegood residence, Luna was lying on her stomach on her bed with a downhearted expression on her face. The letter from Fred, George and Lee was laying on top of her desk, still unfolded. For Luna, it felt like the day she'll get to see Fred, George and Lee again would take longer and longer to arrive. She heard some kind of commotion coming from downstairs fifteen minutes later, but she just stayed right where she was. A couple minutes later, Luna heard a knock at her bedroom door, so she got up to answer it and saw her father waiting for her.

"Yes, daddy?" Luna responded.

"Would you come downstairs, please?" said Xeno. "A few people would like to speak with you."

Luna nodded her head in a 'yes' manner and followed her father back downstairs. All the while, she was confused as to who it was wanting to talk to her. When they arrived in the living room, Luna saw Sirius and he was accompanied by Lord and Lady Greengrass, and their youngest daughter. Luna remembered a few occasions where her mother invited Lady Greengrass and Tori over for tea.

"Hi Sirius," Luna greeted. "Nice to see you again."

"Good to see you too, Luna," Sirius greeted back. "I thought you'd like to know that Harry and Gabby got your letter moments ago. They also contacted me and explained about you feeling lonesome with Fred, George and Lee back at Hogwarts. That's why I'm here with Damon, Ariel and Tori."

"So you and Tori can be playmates," Ariel told Luna, with a smile on her face. "If you'd like that!"

Luna beamed at the revelation. Tori even showed Luna that she was happy for another playmate by putting an arm around her shoulders. Luna also figured she could even personally tell Tori about the popcorn poppers. Maybe Tori could come up with some ideas of her own. Once Luna left with the Greengrass family and over to their manor, Xeno reported to work while Sirius went to Diagon Alley to look for work. Concurrently, breakfast in the Great Hall was in session. Ron was eating a bowl of oatmeal, unaware that Daphne, Tracey, Pansy and Draco were eyeing him intently. As soon as the oatmeal exploded in Ron's face (shielding it with his hands having mixed results), laughter erupted throughout the Slytherin table.

"Looks like your oatmeal got pretty excited, huh, Weaselbee?!" Pansy sneered at Ron.

"I-I guess so!" said Ron, trying to keep his collywobbles in check, without even looking at Pansy.

Breakfast resumed uneventfully (with the heads of houses handing schedules out to their students) and ten minutes later, it was time for students to head off to their classes. Ron looked at his schedule and saw that he and his fellow first year Slytherins were going to Defence Against The Dark Arts and sharing with the Hufflepuffs. Ron's stomach twisted, yet again, since this meant that the other children of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Houses would be in the same class. Naturally, nobody had the willingness to sit by Ron (who found a desk near the back of the classroom), and he wasn't expecting it to happen anyway. Ron spotted Pansy and Morag sharing a desk near the front (same with Daphne and Tracey), while in the second row Neville was sharing a desk with Hannah and Blaise sharing one with Susan. A few minutes later, Remus came in and picked up an attendance card to start taking roll call, in alphabetical order. Whenever Remus would call out the surname, said student would simply say "here!"

"Prewett?" Remus finally called out Ron's mother's maiden name.

"Uh, here!" Ron sheepishly responded, most of the students snickering as quietly as possible.

"Welcome to Defence Against The Dark Arts class!" Remus greeted in a professional-like manner, once he finished roll call. "Here, you'll be learning how to use defensive magic, just in case you find yourself in a situation where you need to protect yourself. The spells you'll be taught here can potentially save your life someday. So please don't fool around with defensive magic, and _absolutely_ no slacking off while thinking you may not need it! You never know when and if you may find yourself in danger and it can happen anytime, anywhere."

Ron knew that Remus had a valid point, so he actually paid attention. Knowing that he was an outcast, Ron realized that this class could be useful anytime he needed to watch his back and check his surroundings. They all went over some simple dueling spells such as _smokescreen spell_. That spell's purpose was to create a cloud of smoke and make it harder for opponents to cast other spells and allow the caster of the smokescreen spell to escape. As Ron went to other classes throughout the rest of that morning, he could easily tell why he needed to learn defensive magic. Some of the older students (particularly Fred, George and Lee) have even threatened to send hexes his way if he put a toe out of line. Meanwhile at Beauxbatons, Harry and Gabby were returning to their quarters to drop their respective school bags off before going to the dining hall for lunch. As soon as they got in, a house elf wearing the crest of House Greengrass apparated in.

"Hi Rex," Gabby greeted the house elf. "What may we do for you?"

"Tori and her friend wanna give a personal thanks." the house elf informed Harry and Gabby.

"Okay, do send them this way." said Harry and Gabby in encouraging voices. So the house elf disapparated and returned with Luna and Tori a minute or so later.

"Hi Harry, Gabby!" Luna and Tori greeted. "How are you?"

"Doing good." said Harry and Gabby in unison.

"While my mum encourages Daph and I not to have Rex apparate us around," Tori started explaining. "Luna and I wanted to personally thank you for helping to suggest the whole playmate thing."

"And it feels good, too," stated Luna as she and Tori smiled. "Tori is also helping out with some ideas for potential joke products she hopes to share with Fred, George and Lee soon."

"That's wonderful!" said Harry and Gabby in unison while smiling, happy for their friends.

To prove their thankfulness, Luna and Tori gave Harry and Gabby hugs and then a group hug. Once that was done, Luna and Tori each grabbed Rex's hands and they apparated away. Then Harry and Gabby left their quarters to meet up with Fleur, Kassidy and Kassandra, and head to the dining hall for lunch.

/Scene break\

It was Saturday, September 7th and the morning was nice and peaceful. Breakfast ended fifteen minutes ago and Remus was up in the headmistress' office. He and Professor McGonagall were keeping a watch over the fireplace as if they were expecting someone. The fireplace activated and emerald-green flames flared up and out stepped Fleur, Gabby and finally Harry, then the flames dissipated.

"Hi Remus, hi Professor McGonagall!" Harry, Gabby and Fleur greeted.

"How'd your first week at Beauxbatons go?" asked Remus and Minerva.

"It went well," said the three Beauxbatons students simultaneously. "Some of the school work was rough, but we managed."

"Weren't your respective best friends going to tag along?" Remus asked the Delacour girls.

"Kassandra woke up with a sore throat," Gabby informed. "So Kassidy had to stay behind and be the responsible big sister."

Remus and Minerva nodded their heads to show that they understood. Remus showed Harry, Gabby and Fleur out of the office, to allow Professor McGonagall to work on paperwork. Then he gave the three Beauxbatons students a tour of Hogwarts, with some of the students stopping what they were doing when they saw Harry with his betrothed. They would politely move out of the way to let Remus continue his task and show respect to Lord Potter and the future Lady Potter. Once the tour ended, Harry, Gabby and Fleur walked outside and over by the Black Lake, they spotted the familiar red hair belonging to Fred and George. They were talking to Lee, Neville, Susan, and a few more girls.

"No way!" Fred, George and Lee exclaimed when they turned around upon hearing Harry's, Gabby's and Fleur's footsteps. "What a nice surprise!"

"We thought we'd come for a visit!" said Harry, Gabby and Fleur in unison.

Then they were introduced to the other girls who Harry didn't recognize. The one with blonde pigtails introduced herself as Hannah Abbott, the brunette girl introduced herself as Pansy Parkinson and the girl with chin-length strawberry-blonde hair introduced herself as Morag MacDougal.

"How's your gran liking it here, Neville?" Harry asked. "Neither Gabby, Fleur nor myself came across her when Remus was giving us the tour of the castle."

"She's enjoying it," stated Neville. "But she _does_ admit that being transfiguration teacher and head of Gryffindor House can sometimes be a hassle."

"Is that the house you got sorted into?" asked Harry.

"No, I was sorted into Hufflepuff," said Neville. "As were Susan, Hannah and Morag."

"I was sorted into Slytherin," said Pansy. "The same house Ronald was sorted into."

"That's why we've been giving Pansy and a few other Slytherins some of our joke products," Fred and George spoke in their twin talk. "Just in case if Ickle Ronnykins decides to step out of line."

"What about Ginevra the delusional?" asked Harry.

"No need to worry about that too much, Harry," assured Pansy. "A couple of twin girls named Flora and Hestia are taking care of that back at the orphanage."

"We also saw what happened with Ronald eating those chocolates and getting love-potion-induce feelings for his sister," Morag told Harry, Gabby and Fleur. "You three should've seen it, so much chaos between the former Weasleys."

"Hopefully that taught her good!" said Gabby with contempt directed at Ginny. "If not, then maybe I shall confront that selfish and delusional bitch and try to put her in her place."

"Gabby!" Fleur scolded her sister. "You know maman hates that word."

"Sorry!" Gabby apologized, her cheeks turning red. "But Ginevra really _is_ one."

"If you slip and say that word within maman's presence, you know what she'll do," Fleur reminded Gabby. "Remember when I did that three times, months before Harry became a part of our lives and she was more than furious."

Gabby shuddered at the memory of what happened to Fleur when those moments happened. Fleur even responded the same way, as it was one of those memories she never liked reliving. Then Susan, Hannah, Pansy and Morag told Harry, Gabby and Fleur that they would see them later before heading back inside. Harry, Gabby, Fleur and Neville decided to stay outside with Fred, George and Lee. As the seven children continued walking around the Black Lake and over into the woods somewhere outside the school wards, they had no idea that they were walking close to a trap. That was when Harry felt a spell hit him in the legs and making him trip. Then a chloroform rag was placed over his mouth and nose before he could get away, knocking him out-cold. Gabby and Fleur tried to rescue him when they saw Dumbledore and Snape dragging Harry away. To make matters worse, the Delacour girls saw Dudley and Piers (with their other gang members) waddling over. That was when they began beating Gabby and Fleur up violently and relentlessly, much to the utter shock of Fred, George, Lee and Neville (who immediately ran up to stop the muggle bullies).

"NAH NAH!" sneered the bullies as they stuck their tongues out and their thumbs in their ears in a taunting manner before waddling away to take Harry away.

What Harry's kidnappers also didn't realize was that Blaise and Daphne happened to have spotted the commotion. They also ran up to Gabby and Fleur to render aid, just as Fred, George, Lee and Neville got to them. The Delacour girls had some bruises and bloody scrapes, while Fleur had a split lip and Gabby had a bloody nose. The force of Dudley punching her nose caused stars to dance in Gabby's vision, while the pain made her squeeze her eyes shut tightly. Both girls were also kneeling down because the pain was tremendous.

"We… saw… that… Snape guy," Gabby barely managed to speak. "He and… Dumbledore… had Harry's cousin… and his gang with them."

"Snape even… knocked… Harry… unconscious with… a… chloroform rag," Fleur informed. "Then… he… dragged… Harry away."

Then she and Gabby passed out, since the pain increased. Neville, Lee and Blaise hightailed it back to the castle to get help while Fred, George and Daphne kept watch over the Delacour girls. Daphne tried holding the tears back, but it wasn't doing any good. She knew Gabby was going to be pretty upset to see Harry kidnapped again. While waiting, Daphne, Fred and George began praying for Harry's safety.

 _To be continued!_

 **Author's note 1: A shoutout to '5UP3RN0V4' for suggesting that Harry, Gabby and Fleur walking into that trap. While I had them doing so unknowingly, the main idea belongs to 5UP3RN0V4.**

 **Author's note 2: I'll leave it up to you to decide as to how Hestia and Flora are keeping Ginny in line back at the orphanage, and how Apolline would punish her daughters for using the word 'bitch' to describe anyone.**


	18. Chapter 18

_Disclaimer: As usual, all I own is this fanfic and OCs Kassidy and Kassandra. The OC Xander Scamander belongs to 5UP3RN0V4. The rest goes to J.K. Rowling, no copyright intended!_

 **Chapter 18: Surprises For Xander**

Harry had no idea how long he'd been out-cold, but he was slowly opening his eyes and saw that he was, to his horror, back in the Dursleys house, in their living room. It wasn't just Dudley, but his gang had been keeping watch while cracking their knuckles threateningly. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Marge and Aunt Petunia were standing behind them. Then walking up to Harry was the hook-nosed man with long, greasy black hair while wearing black robes, and an elderly wizard wearing colourful with long, silver hair and a long silver beard. Harry immediately recognized the man with black robes, since he kidnapped Harry weeks ago and took him to the Burrow. Harry also realized that the elderly man was Albus Dumbledore, since he had been informed of what Albus' physical description was.

"Harry my boy, I'm glad you've been found!" Albus responded in mock worry. "We all had the decency to bring you back to the safest place you can be."

"You've _got_ to be kidding me!" Harry responded in anger.

"Watch your words, you brat!" growled the black-haired man, as he showed Harry the scar on his hand. "Remember that day you bit me there? I wouldn't have needed to use chloroform on you had you cooperated!"

"Cooperated for what?" asked Harry angrily.

"Don't ask questions!" snapped Aunt Petunia.

"Why, for the Greater Good of course, Harry," Albus responded in his grandfatherly voice, with false assurance. "I've cast the bond-of-blood charms all around this house to ensure your safety. As long as you call this place 'home' will the charms work to it's fullest."

"I've never called this place 'home,' and I never will!" snarled Harry.

This resulted in Harry being knocked out with a chloroform rag for the second time. Then Dudley and his gang dragged the out-cold Harry upstairs into his room, with Petunia and Vernon following them. Once Harry was on the bed in the smallest room of the house, Uncle Vernon padlocked it twice to ensure maximum security, intending to keep 'the freak' locked in his room around the clock. Once they were all back downstairs, Dudley and his gang left the house to 'patrol the neighborhood,' which really meant looking for kids to beat up. Then Albus walked upstairs to Harry's room, pulled out a note for him, put his hand holding the note through a cat-flap next to the bedroom door, dropped it and pulled his hand out. Then the former Hogwarts headmaster walked back downstairs, and he and Severus left the house to return to their hideout.

After half an hour had past, Harry started regaining consciousness. He darted his around trying to find a way to escape. He widened his eyes in horror when he saw that the window had bars over it, since it meant that escaping would be difficult, if not impossible. He even checked his pants pockets and realized that his wand was gone. Upon looking down, Harry gasped when he saw that he was no longer in his Lord Potter robes, but Dudley's old clothes.

'I've ended up right back where I started!' thought Harry in despair. 'If someone is unable to find me soon, I'll probably have to attend Stonewall High! Dudley mentioned something about me going there sometime before leaving for Paris, since we were already getting close to graduating from St. Grogery's Primary School.'

Looking down at his hand, Harry quietly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that his Potter family ring was still there. But it wouldn't be able to help him escape from Durzkaban, as Dumbledore likely anticipated potential loopholes and dealt with them to the best of his abilities. Harry spotted a folded-up note right in front of the cat flap next to the door, so he walked toward it and picked it up. Then he unfolded it to read what was written on the note, which said:

 _Harry, if you desire to have love and peace once again, all of the following requirements below must be met:_

1\. _You must drop out of Beauxbatons Academy and enroll at Hogwarts._

2\. _You must drop all criminal charges against myself, Severus Snape and Molly Prewett._

3\. _You must end your betrothment to Gabrielle Delacour, and start courting Ginevra Molly Prewett as soon as possible._

4\. _You must befriend Ronald Bilius Prewett with the intention of being best mates with him._

5\. _You must help the three Prewetts find a more suitable wizarding house._

6\. _You must be sorted into Gryffindor House once you're accepted into Hogwarts._

7\. _You must agree to have Sirius Orion Black returned to Azkaban for the rest of his natural life._

8\. _You must have Remus John Lupin exiled from Wizarding Britain._

9\. _You must return to the Dursleys every summer, as you're safer there than anywhere else. This includes calling Privet Drive home, in order to keep the blood charms as strong as possible._

10\. _You must allow Severus Snape the opportunity to treat you with as much contempt as possible._

11\. _You must refrain from interacting with any kid your age besides Ronald and Ginevra, unless Molly gives you permission otherwise._

12\. _You must file restraining orders against the Delacour family._

13\. _You must convince the Hogwarts Board of Governors to reinstate Severus as potions teacher and head of Slytherin House._

14\. _You must allow Lucius Malfoy the honour of being the head of the Hogwarts school governors._

15\. _You must be happy with your fame as the Boy-Who-Lived._

16\. _You must get an interview setup, where you happily support The Greater Good, and have it printed in The Daily Prophet._

17\. _You must have Rita Skeeter be the one to interview you for The Daily Prophet._

18\. _You must be hostile towards every Slytherin student to the extreme._

19\. _You must be neutral towards Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students._

20\. _You must be friendly towards Gryffindor students only._

21\. _You must be the one to conquer Lord Voldemort, and you only._

22\. _You must reunite with the Prewetts after Voldemort is defeated for good._

23\. _You must be willing to have kids with Ginevra once you two are ready for that._

24\. _You must name one of your kids Albus Severus Potter, in the honour of Severus and myself having helped you prepare for your destiny._

25\. _You must have a passion to be an auror._

26\. _You must arrange for Dolores Jane Umbridge to be the next minister for magic once Cornelius Fudge retires._

 _Severus and myself will be back tomorrow morning, since that'll give you plenty of time to think over your requirements. I must warn you, Harry, and that is if you resist, you'll stay locked up in your bedroom. The more you refuse, the longer you'll have to stay there._

 _Yours Sincerely,_

 _Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

Harry read the note with an incredulous look on his face. He couldn't believe that Albus Too-Many-Names Dumbledore wanted to control his life. Not only that, but have several other people being in charge of certain positions, that was a potential for a corrupted country. Instead of agreeing to the terms on the note, Harry naturally refused. Instead he was going to wait for someone to come to Privet Drive and rescue him. After all, there was going to be somebody out there willing to do it, even if it wasn't going to happen right away. Having made his decision, Harry got onto the bed in the bedroom and laid down on his back while staring up at the ceiling.

/Scene break\

It was around forty-five minutes before lunch when Fleur and Gabby started regaining consciousness. Upon looking around the hospital wing, they started developing worried looks on their faces when they couldn't find Harry on a bed anywhere. Gabby felt tears welling up in her eyes, scared for Harry and that his relatives would potentially beat him up much more than when she met him at the zoo in Paris. Moments later, their parents entered the hospital wing, where Apolline gave her daughters hugs and kisses, relieved that they were okay. Antonio also gave his daughters hugs, also relieved to see his daughters having regained consciousness.

"Maman, will we be able to get Harry back?" Gabby sobbed into her mother's shoulders.

"We will, sweetie," Apolline whispered into Gabby's ear soothingly. "Once we find out who kidnapped him, that'll tell us where he was taken to."

So Gabby and Fleur took turns explaining to their parents what had happened. Naturally, Antonio and Apolline quickly deduced that the Dursleys, Albus and Severus were behind Harry getting kidnapped for the second time. A few minutes later, Minerva, Sirius and Remus entered the hospital wing with a man in his late 20s or early 30s. He introduced himself as Xander Scamander to the Delacour girls.

"Xander was one of the top students during his time here as a student," Minerva told Fleur and Gabby. "He's been trying to bring the Dursleys to justice, but he should explain the rest."

"How have you been trying to do that, Xander?" Gabby and Fleur asked in unison.

"Well, I used to work for the Magical Congress of America," Xander began telling the Delacour girls his story. "I was assigned to work undercover at Vernon's workplace Grunnings, a drill manufacturing company. One day I was trying to get some paperwork to take over to my boss and one of the documents slipped out of my grasp because I was in a hurry. That day was a day where employees were allowed to bring their kids with them to work and Dudley got ahold of the one document and showed it to Vernon. He confronted me for it and fired me on the spot to keep things hushed up. You may have been told that the Magical Congress of America did the same, but I actually resigned and since then, they haven't heard from me. I've been planning something in retaliation against the Dursleys for ruining my life."

"Will you ever get rehired over there, Xander?" asked Gabby.

"I'm not entirely sure," said Xander downheartedly. "Since I'm afraid that my former fellow employees will just ridicule me, since that was my first ever real failure. It even resulted in Harry getting heavily punished, as it was put, for causing more so-called freakishness."

"Well, I know where the Dursleys live," Minerva told Xander. "I was watching the Dursleys every move before Albus illegally brought Harry there. I tried reasoning with Albus, but he just went with his Albus-knows-best attitude, claiming that Harry was safer there. But I knew it was all a misdirection, several times I went to check on Harry. Seeing him endure such treatment, I returned her to the castle to inform Albus, but he'd always claim it was an exaggeration."

"When will we go out to rescue Harry?" asked Gabby.

"Well, I have some animals at a sanctuary that are quite… _unique_!" stated Xander as he grinned.

"Ooh! I need to go use the loo!" said Sirius, going for the foolproof escape and pretending he had to go.

So he turned around and left the hospital wing. Once he was a reasonable distance away, he dropped the act and went to go find Fred, George and Lee. Sirius remembered that they had the Marauders Map and he figured it may be needed. It took him at least ten minutes before he found the three pranksters wandering a corridor on the fifth floor.

"Sirius!" Fred, George and Lee greeted him in unison. "How are you? Did Gabby and Fleur both finally wake up?"

"Yes, they did," stated Sirius. "But I'm equally worried for Harry."

"Same here!" said the Gryffindor pranksters in unison. "We've been trying to find him to see if he managed to escape or not, but we haven't had any luck."

"Gabby and Fleur did mention that Harry had been knocked out with the help of a chloroform rag!" Sirius informed the prankster. Then he started asking in a whisper, "Do you still have the Marauder's Map?"

"Yes, we have it here!" the pranksters informed Sirius, one of the Weasley twins holding the map up. "Do you need to use it right now?"

"I'm afraid so," stated Sirius. "If Harry's kidnappers managed to make it back to cover their tracks, we can look for the quickest routes and hiding spots, just to make sure they get caught and make it easier for them to be apprehended."

"Alright, here's the map." the pranksters spoke in unison.

"Don't worry, I'll give it back once I'm through with it." Sirius promised.

The pranksters nodded their heads in acknowledgement just as Sirius wiped the map clean. Then he turned around to head back to the hospital wing, only to run into Remus and Xander on the way. They both explained that Madam Pomfrey wanted the Delacour girls to rest some more. Sirius showed the map to Remus, which confused Xander. So the three adult wizards found an abandoned classroom, cast some privacy wards and locking charms on the door before discussing the map.

"What is that piece of parchment?" Xander asked Sirius, rather curiously.

"This is the Marauder's Map, Xander," Sirius told him, as Remus nodded his head to confirm it. "Remus and I are some of the inventors, the other two are Harry's father, James, and that traitor Peter Pettigrew."

"How does it work?" asked Xander.

"You point your wand at the map and recite 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,' and the map starts forming," Sirius explained to Xander how the map worked. "If you want to wipe it clean, you point your wand at the map and say 'mischief managed,' useful if you don't want the wrong people to see it."

Xander nodded his head to prove that he understood, so he pointed his wand at the now-blank parchment and recited the certain phrase to activate the map. Sirius and Remus showed Xander the different passages throughout the castle shown on the map. As soon as they began scanning over Dumbledore's office, the three wizards were met with a shocking revelation. The name _Albus Dumbledore_ happened to be on the map, somewhere within his office. This had the three widening their eyes in utter shock.

"What can this possibly mean?" Xander, Sirius and Remus asked in unison, as they looked up from the map to face the reader, their eyes still widened in shock (with Sirius and Remus putting their hands over their mouths in sheer horror).

 _The End!_

 **Author's note 1: A big shoutout to '5UP3RN0V4' for suggesting that Xander visit Hogwarts and explain what he has in mind to rescue Harry; and Xander informing Harry's friends and guardians about owning a sanctuary for unique animals (which will be revealed in the sequel).**

 **Author's note 2: Looks like something bigger is going on here. I felt that ending this part of the story here was necessary, to help you prepare for the next part. Why is Dumbledore's name on the map when he's supposedly on the lam as a wanted criminal? What does this mean for Xander especially? What are the unique animals he was referring to? Will Harry be rescued from Privet Drive on time? What tricks does Xander have up his sleeve to accomplish his goals? Will anybody help out by jumping in to provide some joint effort? Check my profile page to be on the lookout for the sequel if you're interested. The sequel name will be called 'Harry Potter And The Great Rescue,' suggested by 5UP3RN0V4. Happy reading!**


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